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.
Filter Articles
Select what type of article you’re looking for
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 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.
Does Glass Shape Really Matter?
The next time you pour yourself a glass of wine, take a moment to study the glass itself: Does it feel light and balanced in your hand? When you hold it up to a bright white surface, does it sparkle? Touch glasses with your companion; do you hear something like a bell ringing? When you swirl the wine, do the aromas linger in your glass? Raise the glass to your lips; do the temperature, texture, and taste of the wine come together in perfect harmony?
Estate Wine Library
Visit our Estate Wine Library where we share the original tasting notes from the winery as well as notes and comments from our winemaking team and collectors based on tastings over the years.
