Stag's Leap Wine Cellars
Encyclopedia
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars is a winery established by Warren Winiarski
Warren Winiarski
Warren Winiarski is California winemaker. Winiarski was born in a large Polish section of Chicago, Illinois. After graduating from high school, he entered the University of Chicago, then left for a school of agriculture and mining in Colorado, and finally graduated from St. John's College in...

 in 1970 and based in the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley, California. The winery was sold to a joint venture by Chateau Ste. Michelle
Chateau Ste. Michelle
The Chateau Ste. Michelle is a winery in Woodinville, Washington. The winery is noted for its best-selling Riesling bottlings. Chateau Ste. Michelle is the largest single producer of Riesling wine in the United States. The winery also produces wines of other varietals and some experimental wines...

 of Woodinville, Washington
Woodinville, Washington
Woodinville is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,938 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Seattle metropolitan area. There is also a much larger population with Woodinville mailing addresses in adjacent unincorporated areas of King and Snohomish counties...

, and Marchesi Antinori Srl of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 for $185 million in August 2007.

History

Warren Winiarski was introduced to wine while on a year-long trip to Italy studying the work of Niccolò Machiavelli
Niccolò Machiavelli
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian historian, philosopher, humanist, and writer based in Florence during the Renaissance. He is one of the main founders of modern political science. He was a diplomat, political philosopher, playwright, and a civil servant of the Florentine Republic...

. After returning to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, he found an interest in wine and in the early 1960s began to experiment with making his own wine at home. He moved to the Napa Valley with his wife and children in 1964, and took up a job with Chateau Souverain. Following this, he moved to work at the newly started Robert Mondavi Winery.

Stag's Leap Wine Cellars was founded in 1970 after Winiarski purchased a 44 acre block of land for under $200,000 that was situated next to the vineyard owned by modern Napa Valley Cabernet winegrowing pioneer Nathan Fay. Winiarski decided on purchasing land in the region after tasting a homemade wine from Nathan Fay's vineyard, after tasting the wine Winarski stated “I said to myself, Eureka! That’s it. This wine satisfied what I hoped was possible in the Napa Valley. It had not only regional character but also elements of classic or universal character.”

The purchased plot was planted to prune trees, cherries and walnuts as well as a small amount of Petite Sirah and Alicante Bouschet
Alicante Bouschet
Alicante Bouschet or Alicante Henri Bouschet is a wine grape variety that has been widely cultivated since 1866. It is a cross of Petit Bouschet and Grenache. Alicante is a teinturier, a grape with red flesh. It is one of the few teinturier grapes that belong to the Vitis vinifera species...

, these were replaced with Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley...

 and Merlot
Merlot
Merlot is a darkly blue-coloured wine grape, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to derive from the Old French word for young blackbird, merlot, a diminutive of merle, the blackbird , probably from the color of the grape. Merlot-based wines...

 vines and the vineyard was renamed to "Stag's Leap Vineyard" or "S.L.V".

The first vintage produced from the new vineyard was in 1972 and was produced in a rented facility. Winiarski was in charge of making the wine, with assistance from Andre Tchelistcheff
André Tchelistcheff
André Tchelistcheff was America's most influential post-Prohibition winemaker. Tchelistcheff is most notable for his contributions toward defining the style of California's best wines, especially Cabernet Sauvignon...

. The second vintage—the first that was produced at the estate and in commercial quantities— was from 1973. This '73 vintage was entered into and subsequently rated the top red wine at the now historic Judgment of Paris in 1976, launching the winery into the international spotlight.

Following this achievement, the winery began to expand its land holdings, purchasing the neighboring "Fay" Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard in 1986, which nearly doubled the vineyard size owned by the estate, and a Chardonnay
Chardonnay
Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used to make white wine. It is originated from the Burgundy wine region of eastern France but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand...

 vineyard named "Arcadia" from Mike Grgich
Mike Grgich
Mike Grgich is a Croatian American winemaker in California. He was born into a winemaking family in the town of Desne on Croatia's coastal region of Dalmatia...

 in 1996. Grgich was the winemaker at Chateau Montelena
Chateau Montelena
Chateau Montelena is a Napa Valley winery most famous for winning the white wine section of the historic "Judgement of Paris" wine competition. Chateau Montelena's Chardonnay was in competition with nine other wines from France and California under blind tasting...

 in the early 1970s and he produced the counterpart winning Californian Chardonnay at the 1976 Judgment of Paris.

A lawsuit initiated by Winiarski and a counter-suit filed by Carl Doumani, owner of Stags' Leap Winery
Stags' Leap Winery
Stags' Leap Winery is a winery located near Yountville, California, in the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley. The winery's estate vineyard was first planted in 1893. In 1997, Stags' Leap was purchased by Beringer Wine Estates, which in 2000 was in turn purchased by the Australian company Foster's...

, was decided in 1986 by the California Supreme Court. The two wineries were founded in the same year, and both claimed first use of the name "Stag's Leap". The court decided that the wineries were named after the area, so both were allowed to use the name. The judgment included a provision that Winiarski would keep the apostrophe before the s in his winery name, where Doumani would use the apostrophe after the s.

Winiarski and Doumani became friendly after the lawsuit was concluded, releasing a 1985 vintage Cabernet Sauvignon with an equal percentage of grapes from each estate and named "Accord". They also worked together in an attempt to stop the Stags Leap American Viticultural Area
American Viticultural Area
An American Viticultural Area is a designated wine grape-growing region in the United States distinguishable by geographic features, with boundaries defined by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau , United States Department of the Treasury....

 from being created, but they were unsuccessful and the AVA was ratified as a sub-region of the Napa Valley AVA
Napa Valley AVA
Napa Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in Napa County, California, United States. Napa Valley is considered one of the top wine regions in the United States...

 in 1989.

In August 2007, Winiarski sold the winery to Chateau Ste. Michelle and Marchesi Antinori Srl for a reported value of 185 million US dollars. The sale included the winery facilities, as well as the SLV and Fay vineyards. The Arcadia vineyard was kept by the Winiarski family and will continue to provide fruit to the winery on a contract basis. Winiarski, 79 at the time of the sale, was looking to retire and his family members were not in a position to continue running the business. Winiarski agreed to continue as an part time advisor for three years following the sale.

Judgment of Paris and subsequent competitions

The winery achieved significant international recognition in 1976, four years after its establishment, at the Judgment of Paris where its 1973 vintage Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley...

 won first place among ten top French and California red wines in a blind taste test
Blind taste test
In marketing, a blind taste test is often used as a tool for companies to compare their brand to another brand. For example, the Pepsi Challenge is a famous taste test that has been run by Pepsi since 1975 as a method to show their superiority to Coca-Cola. Taste tests are also a tool sometimes...

 by leading French wine experts. The French wines tasted were prestigious first and second growths
Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855
The Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 resulted from the 1855 Exposition Universelle de Paris, when Emperor Napoleon III requested a classification system for France's best Bordeaux wines which were to be on display for visitors from around the world...

 wines from the 1970 and 1971 vintage from Château Haut-Brion
Château Haut-Brion
Château Haut-Brion is a French wine, rated a Premier Cru Classé , produced in the Gironde region. It differs from the other wines on the list in its geographic location in the north of the wine-growing region of Graves...

, Château Mouton-Rothschild, Château Leoville Las Cases and Château Montrose
Château Montrose
Château Montrose is a winery in the Saint-Estèphe appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. The wine produced here was classified as one of fifteen Deuxièmes Crus in the original Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855....

.

The result of the tasting has been described by Decanter
Decanter (magazine)
Decanter is an up market magazine on wine and spirits, published in over 90 countries on a monthly basis. The magazine content includes news from the industry, vintage guides and wine recommendations. Decanter organizes the annual Decanter World Wine Awards.-Wine Ratings:Decanter employs a 1 to 5...

 as "a victory that put California on the winemaking map, and established Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars as a global superstar", and by Paul Lukacs as "most important, it enabled not only the United States but also Australia, South America, and the rest of the New World to emerge as legitimate sources of increasingly superior wines."

A bottle of 1973 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon was placed into the Smithsonian National Museum of American History collection in 1996 as a result of placing first in this competition and to reflect the impact that the achievement had on the United States wine industry.

The San Francisco Wine Tasting of 1978 was a re-tasting of the same wines 20 months after the Paris event. Stag's Leap again won first place with a different set of judges.

At the French Culinary Institute Wine Tasting of 1986, held ten years after Paris, Stag's Leap received sixth place, and in the Wine Spectator Wine Tasting of 1986 it won fourth place.

In 'The Judgment of Paris' 30th Anniversary tasting with the same wines and vintages tasted at the original Judgment of Paris competition, Stag's Leap achieved second place.

Vineyards

The "S.L.V" (Stag's Leap Vineyard) was the initial vineyard owned by the estate. It consists of 35 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and 1 acre of Merlot. This vineyard was the source of the grapes that produced the wine that won the 1976 Judgment of Paris.

The "Fay" vineyard was purchased in 1986. This was the vineyard that originally inspired Winiarski to make wine in this area. It is the oldest Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard in the area and consists of 66 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and half an acre of Petit Verdot.

Arcadia is a 128 acre vineyard near Mount George in the Napa Valley. The vineyard was purchased in 1996 from Mike Grgich. It was retained by the Winiarski family after the sale of the estate in 2007. It still provides grapes for the estate on a contract basis.

Wines

The flagship red wine is named "Cask 23" and this is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon fruit from the SLV and Fay vineyards. The first vintage of this wine was produced in 1974, after Winiarski noticed that a specific cask
Barrel
A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container, traditionally made of vertical wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. Traditionally, the barrel was a standard size of measure referring to a set capacity or weight of a given commodity. A small barrel is called a keg.For example, a...

, numbered 23, stood out from the other casks produced that year. It is not produced every vintage, but only in years that are viewed by the winemaking team as producing excellent quality fruit.

Other wines in the top level "Estate & Single-Vineyard Collection" include two Cabernet Sauvignon single vineyard wines, from the "S.L.V" and "Fay" vineyards, as well as a Chardonnay from the "Arcadia" vineyard.

Stag's Leap Wine Cellars produces a mid-level range under the designation "Napa Valley Collection". These wines are made from estate owned vineyards as well as purchased grapes from other vineyards in the Napa Valley. Wines in this range include a "Artemis" Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, "Karia" Chardonnay and a Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon blanc
Sauvignon Blanc is a green-skinned grape variety which originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French word sauvage and blanc due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in South West France., a possible descendant of savagnin...

.

A range of second wine
Second wine
Second wine is a term commonly associated with Bordeaux wine to refer to a second label wine made from cuvee not selected for use in the Grand vin or first label...

s are produced at a lower price point, under the brand name "Hawk Crest". This label was started in 1974.

External links

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