Stag's Leap Wine Cellars S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon 2012
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The 2012 S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon offers intriguing aromas of cocoa powder, wild blackberries and currants. The wine has a plush entry that fills the mouth with dark blueberry and wild berry flavors along with hints of spice. The palette is rich and concentrated with big, yet round, tannins that lead to a finish of black currantwith hints of sweet oak. The wine's structured tannins, rich fruit, and pleasing minerality point to this wine's ability to age.
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Wine & Spirits
Warren Winiarski planted this benchland site in 1970, a parcel adjacent and just to the south of Nathan Fay’s vineyard, which produced the grapes that had initially attracted Winiarski to this place at the rim of the Stags Leap escarpment. As it turned out, the soils at S.L.V. were different, primarily volcanic. The vineyard is best known for having produced the wine that won the Paris Tasting of 1976—from vines then three years old—and this latest vintage is a window into how that might have happened. The 35-acre site is planted to cabernet sauvignon, today at a range of ages; the oldest block, a five-acre hillside, dates to 1972 (there’s a small block of merlot that did not go into this wine). Aged in 100 percent new oak, S.L.V. has the density of flavor to completely absorb the oak and its tannins, transforming that espresso-roast scent into layers of dark and savory flavors of fresh black fruit. Even as the flavor is saturated and the texture supple, it feels airy and seamless, a wine of finesse and elegance rather than weight.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon S.L.V. is a paragon of elegance and finesse, yet doesn't cheat the taster on flavor. Dense ruby/purple with round, juicy, earthy black cherry and blackcurrant fruit, underbrush and forest floor, the wine is fragrant, medium to full-bodied, soft, seductive and round. This is a lovely, juicy, pure style of wine to drink over the next 10-15 years.
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Wine Spectator
Offers a dusty, savory, loamy mix of dried berry, herb, underbrush and dark berry flavors, ending with a long, focused finish and layers of complexity. Drink now through 2028.
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Wine Enthusiast
This estate-grown wine honors the historical vineyard that brought the Napa Valley worldwide attention for Cabernet. It offers both complexity and elegance, as well as an herbal underbrush accented by tobacco. Chocolate, caramel and coffee add to the intrigue around smooth, velvety tannins.
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Considered one of the "first growths" of Napa Valley, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars produces renowned Cabernet Sauvignon from its historic Stags Leap District estate vineyards. Learn about Stags Leap history and estate-grown wines.
History of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars was founded in 1970 with the purchase of a 40 acre property in the now famed Stag’s Leap District AVA in Napa Valley. The winery brought international recognition to California winemaking and the Napa Valley region when their 1973 S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon won the 1976 Paris Tasting, also known as the "Judgement of Paris."
Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Estate-Grown Cabernet Sauvignon
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars' three estate-grown Cabernet Sauvignons - CASK 23, S.L.V. and Fay - are among the most highly regarded and collected Cabernet Sauvignons worldwide. The Cabernet wines are fashioned to express richness balanced by elegant restraint, an approach often described as "an iron fist in a velvet glove."
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Legend has it that quick and nimble stags would escape the indigenous hunters of southern Napa Valley through the landmark palisades that sit just northeast of the current city of Napa. As a result, the area was given the name, Stags Leap. While its grape-growing history dates back to the mid-1800s, winemaking didn’t really take off until the mid-1970s after a small but pivotal blind tasting called the Judgement of Paris.
When a 1973 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon won first place against its high-profile Bordeaux contenders, like Chateau Mouton Rothschild and Chateau Haut-Brion, international attention to the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley escalated rapidly.
The vineyards in this one-of-a-kind wine growing region receive hot afternoon air reflecting off of its eastern palisade formation. In combination with the cool evening breezes from the San Pablo Bay just south, this becomes an optimal environment for grape growing. While many varieties could thrive here, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot dominate with virtually no others, save for a spot or two of Syrah.
Stags Leap soils—eroded volcanic and old river sediments—encourage well established root systems and result in complex, terroir-driven wines. Stags Leap District reds have a distinct sour cherry and black berry character with baking spice and dried earth aromas, and supple tannins.