Stags' Leap Winery

From LoveToKnow Wine

Stags' Leap—Which One is This?

We'll straighten this out from the beginning. This is not the AVA in Napa Valley and it is not the infamous winner at the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976. This Stags' Leap is the winery located in one of the best appellations for growing Cabernet Sauvignon to make big and powerful wines with sturdy tannins. The Napa Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area) is noted for its unique loamy clay with volcanic soil that, together with the summer heat and cool evening breezes, produces some of the best Cabernet Sauvignon grapes that make big powerful wines with sturdy tannins. It's prime Napa vineyard land in all of two square miles. The AVA is located about six miles north of the town of Napa on the east side of the valley off the Silverado Trail. Stags' Leap Winery began in 1893 and there have been vines growing there ever since Horace and Minnie Chase started the winery. They named the winery after an early Wappo indigenous people legend that has a buck jumping off the rocky palisades to escape some hunters. Nice legend, better wine.

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The Manor House

Emblematic of Stags' Leap Winery is the old stone manor built in 1888 by Chase, with the stone winery and caves following a few years later in 1893. If the aristocratic, castellated manor looks familiar it's possible you may recognize it from movies and television. It's been showcased in several films and TV shows, probably the most recognizable was as the setting for the Falcon Crest TV soap opera drama of the 1980s. Remember the show? It was appropriately about a family wine empire with the nasty matriarch, Angela Channing, as its titular head. Angela Channing, as played by the first Mrs. Ronald Reagan, Jane Wyman, would have turned Ernest and Julio into lap dogs.

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Ne Cede Malis

This Latin phrase is found on the Manor's dining room stained glass door. It translates as, Do not give in to misfortune. Perhaps this maxim was inspired by the stag bounding away from his predators. This is a nice sentiment, but in Chase's case, tough to live up to. In 1909, after indulging in the typical lavish high life not uncommon in Napa Valley, Chase, low on fortune, sold Stags' Leap. The next phase of Stags' Leap began in 1913 when the new owners, Clarence and Francis Grange, turned the property into a resort destination for San Franciscan wealthy society, politicians, artists, and writers—a place to get away from the city's summer fog, swim, party, and enjoy the low-key, unadulterated bucolic wine country. The resort years didn't last, and when the Granges sold the property in the 1940s, the winery dissipated into decline and neglect. But if the owner's had difficulty following Chase's adage, the winery didn't give in.

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Resurgence and a Winemaker—Robert Brittan

There was resurgence in 1971 when the winery was acquired by Carl Doumani and began a process of transfiguration, as he renovated the estate's buildings and grounds. The estate made a great leap forward with the hiring of Robert Brittan as winemaker in 1988. Brittan infused the estate with his passion, independence, and drive to deftly set the Stags' Leap's course and preserve its unique terroir. He successfully has uprooted and replanted some of the old vines while preserving many of the best, particularly the Petite Syrah. The 90-acre vineyard is divided into twenty-three individual blocks to match terroir to varietal. The majority of varietals are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petite Syrah. There are minor plantings of Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Grenache, and Syrah as well to add depth and balance to many of their varietals. Wines from Stags' Leap have a signature of concentrated fruit, rich expression, opulence, and complex structure; all reflecting the estate's inherent terroir and its winemaker.

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Change Happens

In 1998, another successful and historic wine group, Napa's Beringer Wine Estates, acquired Stags' Leap Winery. Just when they caught their breath, in 2000 that wine conglomeration was then bought by Australia's Foster's Brewing Group Ltd. (Yes, the beer guys.) The combined forces of these two wine groups created a multinational beverage powerhouse with wineries in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Italy. This global wine company can leverage advantages in its marketing and distribution of Stags' Leap and other brands. The group's name was later changed to Beringer-Blass Wine Estates [(BBWE)]. Ownership changed hands but its winemaker, Robert Brittan, stayed on and was given free hand to continue operating Stags' Leap as before. But like most things in Napa Valley, things keep moving, and Robert Brittan did that in the spring of 2005. But never fear, the legacy continues in the capable hands of Kevin Morrissey, the new winemaker who had worked as Brittan's assistant for several years and who shares the same vision for Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Syrah.

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The Apostrophe of a Difference

There is perpetual confusion in trying to distinguish between the Stags' Leap Winery and Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. Both are located in the Stags Leap District AVA, both operate in the same neighborhood off the Silverado Trail, both have a dashing buck on their labels. For years there had been a bit of a feud concerning naming rights and image. Stags' Leap Winery claims the historical right of way because of its earlier origin. Warren Winiarski's Stag's Leap Wine Cellars was the winning Cabernet Sauvignon in the infamous Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, giving the Johnny-come-lately winery instantaneous credibility and fame that would overshadow its neighbor around the corner. Finally in 1985 after years of bickering and litigation, the wineries came to an amicable solution, they moved the apostrophe. And, while Stag's Leap Wine Cellars holds the fame upper hand, Stags' Leap Winery has the grammatical edge and its wines don't suffer in comparison either.

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The Stags' Leap Wines

Stags' Leap wines have a reputation as big-but-soft in character and reflect the estate's, Napa Valley's, and the Stags Leap District's distinctive soil and climate. The following is a list of the winery's releases.

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