Producer profile: Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, Napa Valley, in its 50th anniversary year

In the 50th anniversary of its founding, Matthew Luczy recounts how one of Napa Valley’s brightest stars found early fame as one of California’s great Cabernet Sauvignon producers

Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars went from not existing to taking top red wine honours at the 1976 Judgement of Paris in little more than five years. A few ‘perfect-storm’ factors helped, as well as more than a bit of luck, but it was a stunning achievement all the same.

As the winery celebrates its golden anniversary in 2020, it is impressive to realise that 47 of those 50 years have passed after they harvested the 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon – a wine that changed the game not only for Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars itself, but for winemaking in California as a whole and, to some degree, the entire wine world.

The winery was founded in 1970 by Warren Winiarski but the story starts with Nathan Fay. Fay moved from central California to Napa in 1951, and two years later purchased 81ha. Orchards of prune and cherry trees occupied the property at the time, and Fay was met with warnings by the University of California Davis in regards to planting Cabernet Sauvignon or other varieties best suited for ‘warmer climates’.

This tucked-away pocket off the Silverado Trail was thought to be too cool (relative to

Entrance to the estateÕs underground wine caves the warmer Oakville and Rutherford regions to the north) due to its proximity to the San Pablo Bay and its moderating effects on the vines. Regardless, in 1961 Fay forged ahead, and planted the first Cabernet Sauvignon in what is today known as the Stags Leap District AVA.

By 1969, Winiarski had already planted a small area of vines on Howell Mountain and was working as winemaker for Robert

Mondavi at the time he first tasted Fay’s homemade wine. On tasting the nuance, elegance and lift of Fay’s 1968 Cabernet Sauvignon, Winiarski instantly realised the variety’s potential in Napa Valley. The following year, the land adjacent to Fay’s property became available and, figuring the soils and style of the resultant wine would be similar, Winiarski jumped at the chance.

It is this site, now referred to as SLV (Stag’s Leap Vineyard), that would produce the grapes for Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars’ acclaimed 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Timing is everything

Despite its reputation, influence and impact, the Judgement of Paris was actually