It was 50 years ago when Stags Leap Wine Cellars won the famed Paris Tasting of 1976 and help to skyrocket Napa Valley Cabernets to stardom across the world! Flash forward to today, and you will find that this "blue chip" producer is not resting on its laurels. No, they are still pushing to put every little bit of complexity, nuance, and finesse into their Cabernet Sauvignons that they possibly can. Combine this with Napa's highly-praised and eagerly-anticipated 2023 vintage, and you've got some amazing wines!
The signature style for Stags Leap Wine Cellars has often been described as "an iron fist in a velvet glove," a reference to the artful balance-between ripeness and restraint, softness and structure—that yields wines of exceptional beauty and long life. Achieving that style requires a level of attention to detail found only among the world's most dedicated wine producers. In addition, Stags Leap picks in small lots to maintain the identity of the vineyards, age the wine exclusively in French oak, and their vineyard team works carefully on a vine-by-vine basis, rather than the more typical agricultural approach where farming decisions are made on a field basis. In addition, Stags Leap Wine Cellars focuses on sustainable farming, even receiving "Napa Green Certified Land" certification for their three estate vineyards, and "Napa Green Certified Winery" for the winery. Napa Green is the wine industry's most comprehensive "best practices" in land-use and wine production.
ANTONIO GALLONI 97 POINTS - "The 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon S.L.V. is fascinating to taste, as it is the estate's latest release, but it's also a wine that is going to need quite a few years to be at its most rewarding. The long, cold growing season produced a vibrant, intensely aromatic Cabernet Sauvignon. Dried herbs, graphite, mocha and exotic spice overtones are some of the many notes that build over time. The heady, explosive finish is just stunning. This is the first vintage in which a dollop of Cabernet Franc enters the blend."
ROBERT PARKER'S WINE ADVOCATE 97 POINTS - "Richer and fuller than the Fay Vineyard bottling, the 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon S.L.V. is loaded with generous notes of mixed red and black cherries. It's not quite full-bodied, but it's expansive on the palate—and somehow it does that without seeming heavy or overwrought. The luscious finish unspools in long, savory waves of mocha, earth and black olives. It's impressive stuff."
The signature style for Stags Leap Wine Cellars has often been described as "an iron fist in a velvet glove," a reference to the artful balance-between ripeness and restraint, softness and structure—that yields wines of exceptional beauty and long life. Achieving that style requires a level of attention to detail found only among the world's most dedicated wine producers. In addition, Stags Leap picks in small lots to maintain the identity of the vineyards, age the wine exclusively in French oak, and their vineyard team works carefully on a vine-by-vine basis, rather than the more typical agricultural approach where farming decisions are made on a field basis. In addition, Stags Leap Wine Cellars focuses on sustainable farming, even receiving "Napa Green Certified Land" certification for their three estate vineyards, and "Napa Green Certified Winery" for the winery. Napa Green is the wine industry's most comprehensive "best practices" in land-use and wine production.
ANTONIO GALLONI 97 POINTS - "The 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon S.L.V. is fascinating to taste, as it is the estate's latest release, but it's also a wine that is going to need quite a few years to be at its most rewarding. The long, cold growing season produced a vibrant, intensely aromatic Cabernet Sauvignon. Dried herbs, graphite, mocha and exotic spice overtones are some of the many notes that build over time. The heady, explosive finish is just stunning. This is the first vintage in which a dollop of Cabernet Franc enters the blend."
ROBERT PARKER'S WINE ADVOCATE 97 POINTS - "Richer and fuller than the Fay Vineyard bottling, the 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon S.L.V. is loaded with generous notes of mixed red and black cherries. It's not quite full-bodied, but it's expansive on the palate—and somehow it does that without seeming heavy or overwrought. The luscious finish unspools in long, savory waves of mocha, earth and black olives. It's impressive stuff."
