Mystery Cabernet Sauvignon Stag’s Leap District Napa Valley 2020

MYSTERY CAB Fridays!!! 96 POINTS and not for the faint of heart! (Was that a clue? Maybe!) This is Stags Leap District single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon – from select HILLSIDE blocks of a duly famous, trendsetting vineyard that helped to put Napa Valley onto the global wine map! You KNOW this producer – but this incredibly limited bottling almost never leaves the winery…ALMOST! 

The winery sells this limited production Cab for $165 a bottle…but TODAY?! From US?! Not even $80! For single vineyard, 96 POINT STAGS LEAP Cabernet Sauvignon that has NEVER been sold ANYWHERE else?! Certifiable insanity. We don’t have much…so let’s jump to those hints already! 

• The 96 point review called this “impressively juicy” with a “long, succulent finish”...I’m inclined to agree! 

• 98% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Cabernet Franc from 5 “power blocks” that make up the backbone of this iconic 26 block vineyard.

• The founder of this vineyard was the first to plant commercial acreage of Cabernet Sauvignon south of Oakville back in 1961…a feat he undertook despite specific warnings from UC Davis that the vineyard was too cold for the grape. Who’s laughing now?

• Some of the earliest clientele for this fruit went to luminaries like the Mondavis and Joe Heitz, before being folded into a neighboring estate in the late 80s that oversees it to this day.

• It was a wine from here made in 1968 that convinced a rising star young winemaker to sell his property on Howell Mountain and buy the neighboring 50 acres here in Stags Leap – setting the course for an event that would forever change Napa Valley.

So…any guesses? It’s a doozy! And the wine itself?!?! Simply BANGIN’ with violets and cassis, followed by graphite, then sweet and toasty oak, and plenty of roasted herbs. The flavors are simultaneously intense, decadent, and buttery smooth – composed of a medley of blackberries, and black cherries, then raspberries, and plums, interspersed with flecks of crushed gravel. Hints of dark chocolate truffles, and cinnamon, too, with a whispering kiss of vanilla…just OOZING sexiness at every turn! This is full-throttle Napa Cab, and certainly NOT-FOR-THE-SHY! Ready to drink if you like ‘em monstrously big and lusciously smooth – but capable of aging another decade easy if you like things a little softer and tamed. There’s simply no going wrong here – especially for just $79!!! 96 POINTS on this TIGHTLY JOINED vino that has been blessed by the FAIRIES themselves! (NY Times Crossword worthy clues there…) ANYWHO!!!

While it lasts, good people! Enjoy your weekend!