Collector’s Corner
Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
General Articles
Filter Articles
Select what type of article you’re looking for
Decanting Demystified
Decanting is a time-honored wine ritual, but it’s not just for show. When you decant a bottle of wine, two things happen. Slow and careful decanting allows mature wine (typically red wine) to separate from bitter sediment that develops in the aging process. Meanwhile young wines also benefit from decanting, although the aim in not to take the wine off its sediment (as there is rarely any sediment in young wine), but rather to aerate the wine, softening its youthful bite or tannins and coaxing the development of more complex aromas.
Serving Wine: To Chill or Not to Chill?
One of the most frequent questions we get from visitors to the winery is about the proper temperature for serving wine. It’s a valid query, because served either too cold or too warm, a wine will taste considerably different. And contrary to what many restaurants would have you believe, an ice bucket is not always “right” for white wines and “wrong” for reds.
Tinajas: A Lost Art
Many visitors to our winery comment on the three large earthenware vessels they see on “The Outlook,” the grassy knoll overlooking our FAY vineyard and the Stags Leap Palisades. These beautiful Spanish vessels, purchased by Warren and Barbara from an antique art dealer, are known as tinajas (pronounced tee-na-ha), and at one time were used for aging and storing wine.
Stags Leap, Stags' Leap, or Stag's Leap: What's the difference
No, it isn’t a typographical error, and there really are three distinct entities bearing these strikingly similar names. The first of the names refers to the Stags Leap District, our designated American Viticultural Area (AVA); the second refers to our neighbor, Stags’ Leap Winery; and the third refers to us, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. The differences go beyond the location or the absence of the apostrophe.
The Judgment of Paris
Food-and-wine critic Anthony Dias Blue has called it “the most talked about wine tasting of the twentieth century.” It was the famed Paris Tasting of 1976, when two then unknown California wines bested the best of French wines in a blind tasting in Paris. The winning red wine was the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973 S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon.
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