 |
|
|
|
|
S. L. V.
After searching for several years for land capable of producing the new classic wines he envisioned, S.L.V. was Warren Winiarski's first vineyard selection, planted in 1970. Originally a plum orchard, it adjoined a property owned by Nathan Fay, who was growing a prized Cabernet Sauvignon in an area originally thought too cool for that varietal. Winiarski named the vineyard "Stag's Leap Vineyard" after the rocky palisades jutting out from the hills above. Winiarski's belief that S.L.V.'s combination of soil and climate could produce wines rivaling Europe's best was borne out in 1976, when Stag's Leap Wine Cellars' 1973 S.L.V. triumphed over some of France's greatest wines in a blind tasting in Paris. The surprise result established the Napa Valley as one of the globe's premiere wine regions. Planted to Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, S.L.V. continues to produce wines of classic excellence. Stag's Leap Wine Cellars' proprietary blend, CASK 23, is made during particularly meritorious vintages with grapes from the most distinctive blocks of S.L.V. and the winery's adjoining estate vineyard, FAY.
Today, the property encompasses roughly 35 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and 1 acre of Merlot. The vineyard soil consists of both volcanic and upland alluvium with good drainage. The climate benefits from warm afternoons and cool evening breezes.
Forward-looking and ever-evolving vineyard management practices result in more even ripening and greater uniformity of fruit quality, producing grapes of the highest quality possible. S.L.V. fruit offers classical Bordeaux elements of tea leaf, earthy richness with robust structure, and multi-layered textures, producing a wine with complex black fruit and berry character.
|
 |
|
FAY
Nathan Fay was a pioneer. He planted his vineyard below the rocky outcropping of the Stags Leap palisades in 1961, when conventional wisdom said the area was too cold for Cabernet Sauvignon. In fact, he was the first grape grower since the end of Prohibition to have planted Cabernet Sauvignon south of the area near the village of Oakville. But Fay's gamble paid off, and his vineyard proved to be a source of outstanding fruit. Upon tasting Nathan's 1968 homemade Cabernet Sauvignon in 1969, Winiarski recognized that here was terroir capable of producing the expressive, classically structured wines he envisioned, "The minute I tasted it, I knew. This was the kind of Cabernet I wished to produce." Within a few years, the Winiarski family established their own vineyard and winery on adjoining and nearby lands, and in 1986 the Winiarskis bought Fay's vineyard and made it part of their Stag's Leap Wine Cellars estate.
The replanted FAY vineyard consists of nearly 59 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, 5 acres of Merlot and 1 acre of Petit Verdot. Its soils include gravelly bale clay loam as well as volcanic soils with cobblely subsoils. The beneficent climate is influenced by the proximity of San Pablo Bay, which mitigates the heat of summer afternoons. Surrounding hillsides provide air movement, which protects the vines from exposure to frost in the spring.
This vineyard provided a whole new generation of estate-grown Cabernet grapes and the opportunity to experiment with different rootstocks, clones, vine spacing, irrigation methods and row orientation, all in an effort to express the nature of the site's climate and different soils. Today, its fruit offers an abundance of black berry fruit character, voluptuous perfume and soft texture.
|
|
|
ARCADIA VINEYARD
The Winiarski family purchased their third estate vineyard in 1996 and released Stag's Leap Wine Cellars' first ARCADIA VINEYARD Chardonnay in 1998. Originally developed in 1973 by a group of partners that included Miljenko (Mike) Grgich and Austin Hills of Grgich Hills Cellar, the land then called Olive Hills Vineyard was the source of some of that winery's great early Chardonnays and Sauvignon Blancs. But over time, phylloxera and other problems took their toll. The Winiarskis renamed the 128-acre parcel ARCADIA VINEYARD (after the land of pastoral simplicity celebrated by the Roman poet Virgil) and began an ambitious replanting program. The greatness of the vineyard quickly reemerged, and from the first vintage ARCADIA VINEYARD Chardonnays have won accolades for their combination of heady perfume, delicate fruit, and minerally intensity-superb examples of classic Burgundian Chablis with a California twist.
ARCADIA VINEYARD lies at the foot of Mt. George along the Vaca mountain range, which runs parallel to the southeastern edge of the town of Napa. The vineyard is planted primarily to Chardonnay, although certain clones of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are being tested for potential blending components. ARCADIA VINEYARD features a unique soil composition deriving from crushed seashells, a consequence of its incarnation as an inland lake several millennia ago. Temperatures fall between those of the cooler Carneros and the warmer Stags Leap districts.
|
|
|
 |
