2016 Stags' Leap Winery Cabernet Sauvignon The Leap Napa

Our 2016 The Leap Cabernet Sauvignon captures the distinctive personality of our estate vineyard and this incredible vintage, crafting a darkly intense, multilayered, rich and approachable wine with depth of fruit, plushness and creamy richness. This wine is classic Stags Leap District Cabernet, offering blackberry, blueberry and macerated strawberry aromas on the nose, along with subtle baking spice notes of cinnamon, milk chocolate and coffee, alongside more savory notes of black olive and chaparral herbs. On the palate, there is elegance, freshness and complexity, showing lifted dark blackberry, blueberry and black raspberry fruits followed by hints of chocolate, espresso and black pepper spice. With big, round, mouth-pleasing tannins and a silky, smooth lithe texture, this Cabernet exhibits the iconic power and intensity that have become synonymous with Stags’ Leap estate wines but drinks elegantly, demonstrating the opulence and grace of the estate. VINEYARD NOTES: Cabernet Sauvignon is synonymous with Napa Valley and has always been a mainstay in the winemaking program at Stags’ Leap Winery. The Leap is sourced from select Cabernet Sauvignon blocks within our Stags’ Leap Winery estate vineyard that are twenty-five years old, on average. This singular expanse of earth tucked up against the eastern palisades of Napa Valley features thin, rocky soils in its upper reaches, giving way to finer-grained loamy soils at its floor. The heat-reflecting palisades, with their towering rocky crags, provide consistent warmth over the estate and help balance the cooling breezes from the south. This pronounced micro-climate is remarkably well-suited to growing Cabernet Sauvignon grapes of distinction. VINTAGE NOTES: The extended drought was beginning to cause real concern as the 2016 growing season kicked off, but some welcomed winter rain hinted at the relief to come. After a relatively dry January we enjoyed significant rainfall in February, along with mild temperatures. Bud break was early, but was slowed by heavy April showers. While still early by historical standards, picking began about a week later than 2015, right around Labor Day, and continued at a leisurely pace, allowing the grapes to reach full flavor maturity. A traditionally sized harvest followed the lighter showing of 2015, and the extended mild season helped to balance the acids and add complexity to the layers of flavors. Considered a perfect harvest and a winemaker’s dream vintage, conditions were perfect for producing a Cabernet with beautiful fruit as well as tremendous concentration of flavors, highly saturated color, and layers of complexity.