Collector’s Corner
Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
Welcome to the Collector’s Corner, a forum for exchanging information and points of view about our wines, our winemaking and vineyard activities, and our wines at auction.
Estate Wine Library
Select a vintage or varietal for tasting notes from the winery and our collectors
Notes From the Napa Valley 2010 Harvest
It was slow to start, with heavy spring rains, and a very cool summer. A summer long on sweaters and short on, well, shorts. A season delayed by 2-3 weeks and a lot of bets that the last grapes would be greeted at the weigh station by Thanksgiving turkeys. There was a high incidence of mildew in specific locations throughout the North Coast and the ensuing leafing in the fruit zone for exposure to more sunshine was meant to help maturity. Then Mother Nature was fickle and drenched the vineyards in a searing heat. The mildew was abated, but the sunburn and berry shriveling were now the issue. There was a lot of hand-wringing and grumbling, some were convinced that swarms of locust would arrive any minute. Some veterans were saying, "Never seen anything like this before" and "we'll never be able to get all these grapes in before the rainy season."
Just Great Wine
I started collecting wine in the mid-1980s, during my second visit to Napa Valley. I had the opportunity to taste some older vintages at a winery there and realized how much more interesting and satisfying the wines were when aged and cellared properly. It was on that trip that I put down my first wines for later consumption. Among them was a 1984 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars CASK 23 Cabernet Sauvignon.
Age Appropriate
Here’s one of the biggest myths about wine: It gets better if you age it. While some wines (like Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars “CASK 23” Cabernet Sauvignon) unquestionably do evolve in compelling and fascinating ways over time, there is actually no basis to the presumption that wine de facto gets better the longer you keep it. Sadly, I know this all too well from experience.
Community
“I just wanted to share with you how much a bottle of your wine meant to my family today. About 18 years ago my late husband bought a bottle of 1990 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars "Cask 23" Cabernet Sauvignon. It was signed "to Danny on your 21st birthday." Well today was my sons 21st birthday so we opened, drank, and enjoyed that bottle of wine. It was so special that my son could enjoy a gift from his father even though he is no longer with us. So thank you for producing an amazing bottle of wine that can be enjoyed 21 years later.”
“I visited your winery last year on a trip with friends to Napa Valley and found it very enjoyable. Yesterday a bunch of us did a mini re-enactment of the Paris 1976 wine tasting, with four chardonnays and two cabs. In a blind tasting, we put the '07 Stag's Leap SLV cab up against the French Chateau Montrose (which had scored a 122 vs. Stag's Leap's 127.5 In 1976). The crowd cheered when the Stag's Leap '07 was pulled out of the bag as the winner, having scored 213 points to Montrose's 175. Every person at the tasting picked yours as the better wine. Just wanted you to know that 35 years later you're still beating the French in blind wine tastings!”
Auctions
Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Auction Lot Sold for $86,100 At the 19th Annual High Museum Atlanta Wine Auction
- March 30, 2011
The Stag's Leap Wine Cellars live auction lot (Lot 38) sold for an incredible $130,000 at Auction Napa Valley
- Napa Valley, CA - June 3, 2011
Sun Valley Center Wine Auction
- Sun Valley, ID - July 21, 2011