Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cask 23 Cabernet Sauvignon

Product Description

Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, located in the Stag’s Leap District at the southern end of the Silverado Trail, is unquestionably one of the icons of the Napa Valley. While it is currently fashionable to point the finger at California for a style of wine that is considered too packed with fruit, concentration, and alcohol, this could not be less true of this estate which from its beginnings has persisted with a style that is summed up by the word classical, where ripe fruit and perfume are paired with elegance and structure. In 1969 Warren Winiarski tasted home-made Cabernet Sauvignon from Nathan Fay’s vineyard in the Stag’s leap District and knew he had found a place capable of producing wines as classic and expressive as the best of Bordeaux. When the fifty acre prune orchard just next to Fay’s vineyard came up for sale he bought it and in 1972 established Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars there. He called this patch of land S.L.V. (Stag’s Leap Vineyard) and it produced the 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon which incredibly carried all before it at the famous 1976 Paris tasting and helped establish the Napa Valley as a wine region to be reckoned with. In 1986 Nathan Fay sold his Fay vineyard to the Winiarski family and now Fay and S.L.V. in their different ways together represent the pinnacle of the winery’s achievements. The best of these two opposites are combined in Cask 23 which is only produced in the best vintages. The terroir of all three of these wines combines the “water” of alluvial soils with the “fire” of weathered volcanic rock yielding concentration and structure. The heart of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars is undoubtedly the estate vineyards, and extraordinary care is taken to assure that a wine’s aroma, flavor, and texture express a sense of place.

CASK 23 is liquid art. It’s the most beautiful painting we can create from the lines, colors and shadings we’re given each vintage by the grapes from our S.L.V. and FAY estate vineyards. Named for the large wood cask in which the first vintage (1974) of this wine was aged, CASK 23 is not only the finest and most site-expressive wine we produce, it’s a benchmark for California Cabernet Sauvignon. Our Cabernet Sauvignon is remarkably fruit-forward and generous in their youth, yet remain true to the house style, with refinement, elegance and long cellaring potential. The CASK 23 offers continuously unfolding aromas of violets, cassis, whole and crushed blackberries, oak spice, dark cocoa, cedar and subtle cigar box. It’s intense, yet still vibrant and fresh, with concentrated flavors which build through the finish and linger after each sip. Silky texture and refined tannins complete the portrait.