WINEMAKER'S NOTES:
The wine leads with dark fruit aromas on the nose intertwined with cocoa, baking spices, cassis, and subtle cedar spice. The palate is rich and firmly structured, revealing gravelly and iron-tinged mineral nuances. Dark chocolate emerges toward the end, carrying through a persistent, well-structured finish.
Blend: 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc
TASTING NOTES:
A classic wine from a great vineyard. So fragrant in pine needles, spearmint and blackcurrant aromas, then layers of violet, cocoa, cedar and bay laurel flavors wrapped in snug tannins. Fresh, firm and well-balanced, with many years of enjoyment ahead. Drinkable now and best from 2033.
- James Suckling, 98 pts.
Richer and fuller than the Fay Vineyard bottling, the 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon S.L.V. is loaded with generous notes of mixed red and black cherries. It's not quite full-bodied, but it's expansive on the palate—and somehow it does that without seeming heavy or overwrought. The luscious finish unspools in long, savory waves of mocha, earth and black olives. It's impressive stuff.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 97 pts.
The 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon S.L.V. is a deep, powerful wine. Black cherry, plum, espresso, menthol and dried herbs infuse the 2022 with tons of aromatic complexity. Beams of tannin confer gravitas to this brooding, imposing young Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2023 offers an intriguing mix of the power that is typical of this site tempered by the restraint of this cold, late-ripening year.
- Vinous, 96 pts.
An impressive Cabernet from the 50th anniversary celebratory vintage of the famed Paris Tasting, the event that made Stag's Leap Wine Cellars famous. Fresh aromatics bring energy to a palate of generous flavor carried by a refined, upright structure through a long finish. A mix of fruits showcase complexity with spiced cocoa, refreshing fennel and flowering herbs, graphite and a dusty earth finish. A nice balance of pleasurable flavor and texture with a structure ready to last decades in cellar.
- Wine Enthusiast, 95 pts.
