94 Points - Wine Advocate

"The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate The Leap was aged 20 months in 50% new French oak. This is a beautiful wine, offering up an opaque purple color and a beautiful nose of floral-infused blackberries and blueberries, as well as cassis. This is a wine of great intensity, with a multilayered mouthfeel and deep, pure richness. This stunner should drink well for 20-25 years." - Robert Parker, March 2016

93 Points - Wine Enthusiast

"This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon sees 20 months in 100% French oak, half of it new. This wine has lovely cassis and red cranberry notes at its core, while accents of earth, leather, oak and cedar give it a classic feel. Sizable, dry tannins should integrate with the bright fruit and minerality over time, through 2020. Cellar Selection." - Virginie Boone, June 2015

93 Points - Wine & Spirits

"Few wines capture the volcanic intensity of the Palisades as well as this grand Stags Leap District Cabernet. Christophe Paubert selects it from the best barrels in his cellar, sourced from the top parcels at the estate, with vineyards tucked into the folds of the Stags Leap escarpment at the western edge of the Napa Valley. Decant a bottle to take it from the initial rusticity of its earthbound tannins and cherry liqueur fruit. An hour later, it will be savory and fresh. And, over the course of dinner, the layers of earthy spice may gain in gravity as the floral notes of raspberry-scented fruit pull in a brighter, sunnier direction. Pretty great right now, this should only get better with age." - Joshua Greene, April 2016

93 Points - International Wine Report

"The nose opens with aromas of milk chocolate, blackberry and anise with dried provencale herbs. There is a lovely balance and acid structure to this wine with wonderful richness indicative of this great vintage. Yielding flavors of mocha, blackberry and black olive. This is delicious and impressive." - Owen Bargreen, November 2015

Tasting Notes

Our 2011 The Leap Cabernet Sauvignon begins lush and opulent in black cherry, blackberry and black plum, with intricacies ranging from dried lavender and tarragon to coffee. On the palate, the rich black fruit continues and a focused red fruit core arises showcasing cranberry, red cherry and pomegranate. Telling of the Petite Sirah, this wine has significant, but fine, tannins and exhibits wonderful longevity, but remains elegant and refined throughout.

Vineyard Notes

Cabernet Sauvignon is synonymous with the Stags Leap District and has always been a mainstay in the winemaking program at Stags’ Leap Winery. The Leap is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from select blocks within our Stags’ Leap Winery estate vineyard. 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.

While not typical of The Leap to blend other varietals, the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon fruit was enhanced with Petite Sirah in order to craft the most expressive wine for the vintage. The Petite Sirah was sourced exclusively from Block 9, which maintains the wonderful, highly concentrated black fruit flavors and power that are beloved of the varietal without the dominant spice and floral notes. This allows the Petite Sirah to be a wonderful counterpart to Cabernet Sauvignon, extracting power, richness and elegance from the varietal without diverting Cabernet from its essence.   

Vintage Notes

The 2011 vintage began with a wet winter and spring that delayed bloom and fruit set, resulting in lower yields in many parts of the region. Cool temperatures delayed vine development by several weeks, a timetable that continued through the lengthy, cooler-than-usual summer season. Few high heat events occurred at any point in 2011, and the vintage resulted in wines that foremost broadcast fruit with deft tannins.

Winemaking Notes

The Leap is a barrel selection, a blend of the best estate blocks, lots and cooperages in a given vintage. Each lot was held separately, Cabernet Sauvignon in French oak barrels (50% new) for 20 months and Petite Sirah in neutral French oak barrels for 20 months, before Winemaker Christophe Paubert hand selected the most expressive of them to blend just prior to bottling. Keeping each block separate allows close monitoring of each individual lot through aging, maximizing the depth and potential of the estate vineyards.

Varietal Composition: 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Petite Sirah
ABV: 14.1%