Winemaker Notes
The 2017 The Leap Cabernet Sauvignon captures the distinctive personality of the estate vineyard and this wonderful vintage, offering a dark, seductive, full-bodied wine with an intensity of dark berry fruit alongside a plush, creamy texture. This wine is classic Stags Leap District Cabernet, exhibiting blackberry, raspberry and black currant aromas on the nose, along with subtle baking spice notes of cinnamon, dark chocolate and espresso. The palate comes through with interweaving layers of blackberry, deep plum and black currant, alongside delicate nuances of mocha, espresso, graphite and black pepper spice. The mouthfeel is powerful and rich, with depth and structure, full of velvety round tannins and a long, lingering mouth-watering finish. The texture is robust and plentiful, but the intensity is softened by the terroir elements coming through from the well-balanced delicacy and grace that has become synonymous with Stags’ Leap estate wines. Drinks superbly now but demonstrates the opulence and intrigue of the estate, that will allow this Cabernet to age for many years to come.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Beautiful aromas of currants and crushed strawberries with flowers and cedar. Incense, too. Full-bodied with firm, well poised tannins that show tension and form. Long, flavorful finish. Needs time to soften. Same level quality as 2016?
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Tasting Panel
Cabernet Sauvignon from this century-old 240-acre estate in the Stags Leap District is planted on well-drained volcanic soil. Glossy tannins and a velvety texture accentuate the wine’s poise as violets and sweet earth bathe in black-fruit creaminess.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon The Leap is composed of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Malbec and was aged for 20 months in French oak, 60% new. Deep garnet-purple colored, it delivers wonderfully opulent scents of Christmas cake, baked plums and Morello cherries with hints of Black Forest cake, Indian spices and cigar box plus a waft of potpourri. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is packed with spicy black fruit preserves layers, supported with tons of freshness and tightly knit, finely grained tannins, finishing long and fragrant.
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Wine & Spirits
Crunchy blackberry and blueberry flavors completely infuse this wine’s tannins, lending refinement to the dark-roast-coffee scents that meld oak with the dark fruit-skin savor of Stags Leap District cabernet. Christophe Paubert ages the lots from his estate parcels separately, giving them 20 months in French oak barrels (60 percent new), then blends this wine from those he considers the most expressive. His 2017 is potent and built to last.
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.