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Inspired by a local Native American legend, founder Horace Chase named his Napa wine estate Stags' Leap with the inaugural 1893 vintage. The Leap honors the heroic stag who, in the legend, vaulted across a chasm in the Palisade cliffs above the property to elude pursuers.
The block of our Estate Vineyard we call The Leap lays at the doorstep of the historic Stags' Leap Manor House. This is the heart of the estate, with exceptionally well-drained volcanic soil that produces our most distinctive Cabernet Sauvignon . We created the wine to celebrate this block and to offer collectors a long-lived Cabernet, one that speaks to the unique terroir of the Stags Leap District. 2002 was another terrific vintage for Cabernet Sauvignon, coming on the heels of the justly celebrated '01. One of the mildest summers on record in Napa Valley led into a fairly compressed harvest during a hot spell in September. We had excellent phenolic maturity in the Cabernet from Block 7, which we harvested from October 5th to October 12th. The flavors are mature and expressive rather than jammy, and this is an excellent year to see what makes the Stags Leap District so special.
As is tradition here at Stags' Leap, we put the Cabernet through an extended maceration to extract color and structure and fermented the fruit in a combination of open and closed tanks for maximum flavor development. Two years of ageing in French oak barrels completes the process. The nose shows elegant, dried herb aromatics, leading into ripe flavors of black fruits: blackberry, plum and cassis. That briary character, a Stags' Leap signature, is in evidence, as are notes of rhubarb, black pepper and licorice. A structure of finely grained tannin is the last major component here, binding the ripe, mature flavors together and ensuring that this wine will continue to evolve in the cellar for many years to come.
The block of our Estate Vineyard we call The Leap lays at the doorstep of the historic Stags' Leap Manor House. This is the heart of the estate, with exceptionally well-drained volcanic soil that produces our most distinctive Cabernet Sauvignon . We created the wine to celebrate this block and to offer collectors a long-lived Cabernet, one that speaks to the unique terroir of the Stags Leap District. 2002 was another terrific vintage for Cabernet Sauvignon, coming on the heels of the justly celebrated '01. One of the mildest summers on record in Napa Valley led into a fairly compressed harvest during a hot spell in September. We had excellent phenolic maturity in the Cabernet from Block 7, which we harvested from October 5th to October 12th. The flavors are mature and expressive rather than jammy, and this is an excellent year to see what makes the Stags Leap District so special.
As is tradition here at Stags' Leap, we put the Cabernet through an extended maceration to extract color and structure and fermented the fruit in a combination of open and closed tanks for maximum flavor development. Two years of ageing in French oak barrels completes the process. The nose shows elegant, dried herb aromatics, leading into ripe flavors of black fruits: blackberry, plum and cassis. That briary character, a Stags' Leap signature, is in evidence, as are notes of rhubarb, black pepper and licorice. A structure of finely grained tannin is the last major component here, binding the ripe, mature flavors together and ensuring that this wine will continue to evolve in the cellar for many years to come.
