Stags Leap Winery
written by: Travis Mason
Stags Leap Wine Cellars is located in Napa Valley and was founded by Warren Winiarski and his family in 1970. Nicki Pruss is the Winemaker and she was cool enough to give F&I a great interview and a good look at Stags Leap Wine Cellars. When they agreed to give me this interview, I decided to bust open a bottle of 1999 Fay Cabernet Sauvignon that I’d been holding on to for quite a few years, needless to say, the wine was great. It matured really well, had a great nose, soft tannins and complex dark fruit flavors, I picked up a lot of plum and currant with a tobacco finish. I think waiting 11 years to drink this bottle was a good decision, I decanted it, gave it plenty of time to breathe and was really happy with the wine. Next time you’re in Napa, stop by and see the nice folks at Stags Leap Wine Cellars, they are good people and are producing some of the best wines in the country.
What attracted you to winemaking?
The interplay between the following: art and science, man and nature, intuition and serendipity. Perhaps the most intriguing to me is the observation that wine, in a way, is a continuum of energy. The sun’s energy from a growing season is converted via photosynthesis and captured in a bottle of wine. If you think about it in the big picture the solar energy from a particular year has been captured by the leaves of a grapevine, channeled to the berry, selected by a person – who adds their own energy, brought to the winery where it transforms from within a berry into wine, is then aged in a barrel and at the appointed time, placed in a bottle. It continues to transform in the bottle until you decide to pull the cork, release the energy and drink it in.
The movie Bottleshock was great, for those who haven't seen it, tell us about the 1973 Cab.
I have not seen the movie Bottleshock but perhaps one day I will. I have been told there is a brief acknowledgement at the end of the film about the ’73 SLV Cabernet Sauvignon and SLWC. Ah, the wine. The 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon is a wine that was made from the fruit of young vines planted in 1970 by Warren Winiarski – the founder of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. The wine bested some very well known Bordeaux red wines in 1976 at a tasting in Paris. George Taber’s original 1976 Time magazine article and his book, The Judgement of Paris, gives you an insider’s view of what really went down. The impact was substantial. Over the past 12 years I have had the great fortune to have tasted this wine several times. The most recent experience was on February 2, 2010. The wine was a medium garnet color with a somewhat brick-hue in the rim. I caught aromas of vanilla, berries, dusty floral tones, black cherry and sea foam. The acid was bright and the wine had a pleasant structure. It was a real treat to taste.
What are some things that every wine lover should know about Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars?
Growing and making world class Cabernet Sauvignon from the SLV and FAY vineyards is our passion. We have been at it for forty years in the Stags Leap District. We take great care to make Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Merlot from our third estate vineyard, BRV (Big Ranch Vineyard). I love to surprise people with our white wines, especially the SB. It’s quite refreshing on a hot day.
Other fun facts about SLWC :
- A bottle of the 1973 SLV Cabernet, soil samples and plant material from the vineyards as well as interviews with the Founder are all part of a collection at the Smithsonian Institution.
- There is an extensive cave system (laid out like the roadways of Napa Valley) in which we age our barrels of red wine complete with a Foucault’s pendulum. I call the caves our underground French forest.
- A Mistral berry sorting system now graces our building one crush pad during harvest. We have been using it since 2008 with our red grapes and the resultant wines have an incredible fruitiness and finesse.
- The Stags Leap rock formation, viewable from the outlook overlooking the FAY vineyard, is a thing of beauty. The light reflecting off the rocks especially at sunset during harvest makes you stop and stare. A full moon rising over the formation is also awesome.
- It takes a team of people acting as stewards of this historic Napa Valley property to grow the grapes, make the wines, and share the legacy with the world.
- Our oldest block was planted in 1972.
- FAY Vineyard grew the wine that was the inspiration for the Founder to buy land in what is now the Stags Leap District. It is one of our two Estate Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards. S.L.V. – Stag’s Leap Vineyard was the source of the wine that won the Paris Tasting in ’76. Cask 23 is a unique blend of wine lots made from FAY and S.L.V. (prior to 1990 the source for Cask 23 was only the Stag’s Leap Vineyard)
- Balance, elegance and restraint are the guiding principles by which we make our wines. The tannins in our red wines can be characterized by the phrase, “an iron fist in a velvet glove”. Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars red wines age quite nicely.
Rutherford Grill – cold smoke salmon (not always on the list but ask for it). Buttercream Bakery for breakfast (down home diner. Great place to fuel up before starting a day of wine tasting - ask for Kathy to be your server); Oenotri – wood fired margherita pizza (Sur Lucero is a wonderful sommelier; Curtis Di Fede the chef is totally into farm to table cooking so it is fresh and seasonal); In-n-Out Burger – grilled cheese with grilled onions and fries well-done. Almost anything made by Chef Jonathan Bodnar – he knows how to pair food with wine.
In your opinion, what are some wines that I should put on my Wine "bucket list"?
1973 SLV. 1974 Cask23. 1969 Concannon Petite Sirah.
Hans Wirsching Scheurebe (dry).
SLWC Golden Rectangle; A vertical of SLWC Arcadia CH.
1983 SLWC Late Harvest Riesling
What are some of your wines that someone who is just getting in to wines should try?
Our Napa SB, Artemis CS and all three estate CS – FAY, SLV, Cask23. Come to the tasting room and taste through the progression of our CS. Wine is best with good friends and food.
