Stags' Leap Winery Estate Reserve Merlot 2000
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"There is a ripeness and concentration to this wine that represents a new style for us," says winemaker Robert Brittan. "Although elegantly structured, the wine has lots of extraction and a new level of density. But it still has the briary character that I think of as the hallmark of Stags' Leap Merlot, layered with aromas of fresh and dried herbs and flavors of black cherry, raspberry jam, lemon grass and Belgian hot cocoa. It is truly a wine with a sense of place."
A fashionable country resort in the mid-twentieth century, popular with Hollywood due to its 1892 stone Manor House and historic gardens, legends of bootleggers and gangsters, ghosts and gypsies, Stags' Leap has been home to three major family groups up through the modern revitalization of the winery that began in the 1970s.
Stags Leap Manor, as it was called in the 1920s, was known as one of the prominent country retreats in the Napa Valley at a time when resort and spa business was big. In addition to lodging and dining, amenities included lawn tennis, swimming, horseback riding, children's activities, golf, music, cards, a library, and Napa Valley wines and liquors (prior to and after Prohibition).
An intimate valley within the greater Napa Valley, Stags Leap is a place of natural beauty, storied buildings and gardens, a lively history, and a reputation for elegant wines showing finesse and intensity.