A sub region perfect for ripening luscious dark-berry fruit aromas and flavours in the grapes, firm yet supple tannins in the wines, a refreshing acid character from start to finish, and the structure that promised longevity in the cellar. Time has validated these two visionary men’s belief in the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley. So began in 1970 the future legend – Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars (SLWC). He planted it out with Cabernet Sauvignon and this would become the iconic ‘SLV’ vineyard. He paid the ‘princely sum’ of just under $200,000. Seeing the potential of cabernet in this area Winiarski bought a 44-acre plot of orchard land right next to the vineyard owned by Nathan Fay. The wine was nuanced, lifted yet powerful – he realised this Napa Valley terroir was special. Whilst working as winemaker for Robert Mondavi, Winiarski tasted Nathan Fay’s 1968 homemade but rather exceptional cabernet. his future professional path changed to follow this new passion. Meanwhile, a Chicago native, Warren Winiarski had become enamoured of fine wine whilst on a study sojourn in Italy. Fay stubbornly ignored University of California Davis advice that the area was too cool for red Bordeaux varieties. Indeed, his were some of the first Cabernet Sauvignon plantings in the United States. The legend goes that the Stag’s Leap name was inspired by a large stag who successfully eluded hunters for years by leaping to freedom and disappearing into the Napa Valley wilderness and peaks.īut it was another legend of wine pioneering, Nathan Fay, who recognised the uniqueness and suitability of planting Cabernet Sauvignon along the Napa Valley’s Silverado Trail way back in 1951. “It’s a legacy everyone at the winery, in the vineyard and in the tasting room carries forward each day, while pushing the boundaries to do even better.” “The Judgment of Paris put Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, the Napa Valley wine region, and the entire American wine industry on a path to worldwide renown,” said SLWC Winemaker Marcus Notaro. Even today its significance continues to be recognised within the Napa Valley, and naturally at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, which is celebrating its Golden Anniversary this year with a renewed commitment to producing complex, concentrated and age-worthy wines. The tasting put Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and the Napa Valley on the map. (A 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay from California bested its French counterparts.) The result at the time was inconceivable. The winning red? A 1973 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars ‘SLV’ Cabernet Sauvignon that topped four highly ranked Bordeaux, including Château Mouton-Rothschild and Château Haut-Brion. The identities of the wines were concealed, and the labels revealed only after the jury of nine French tasters had voted its order of preference. …It was in May 24, 1976, that Stephen Spurrier, an English wine merchant and wine critic, in celebration of the American Bicentennial activities in Paris, organised a tasting pitting high quality First Growth French red Bordeaux and white Burgundies against California Cabernet Sauvignons and Chardonnays. Over 4 decades have passed since a simple, blind wine-tasting, later to be known as the ‘Judgement of Paris’, when the then unknown Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars blasted out of the water the old world ideas of where a world-class Cabernet comes from…
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