Tag: stags leap

CAB ALERT AND REDUB OF THREAD FEATHER ‘STAG’S’

We’ve mentioned this in passing in a number of articles and emails but felt we should take a moment to make the point specifically here as well. There are shortages on the horizon of some of your favorite beverages. Thanks to the wildfires in northern California in 2020, which occurred rather late in the growing season, a number of vineyards containing later harvested varietals like Cabernet were affected by smoke taint.

There are those that will tell you that smoke taint in grapes can be ‘handled’ in the cellar. That is a subject for debate and we definitely don’t agree. Neither do most producers and most of the quality Napa vintners will not be bottling Cabernets from the 2020 vintage.

Bottom line? There will be less Cabernet to go around, obviously, if you eliminate the majority of an entire vintage. Some vintners will choose to the conserve and stretch the ’18 and ’19 vintages to cover the gap. Others will simply clamp down and protect the wines for restaurants (so you can pay more for them) or raise prices. Other simply won’t have anything to sell. In short, there will be much less to choose from for what we estimate to be a period of 18 to 24 months.

So what does one do? Simply, by a little more now and put it aside. The 2018 and 2019 vintages are quite good and still fairly available, so the old adage of a ‘bird in the hand’ is very appropriate right now. We are doing to do our best to build our own back stocks of reds to ride the storm, but there is only so much we can do.

While we’re on that subject, we went back an bought out the rest of the delightful Thread Feather Cabernet Napa Valley Stag’s Leap 2019 which we offered via email late last year. A high-quality $69-list Napa Cabernet for under $40 is a good place to start your Cabernet ‘survival kit’. Thread Feather Winemaker Niel Koch has trained at elite places, with Philip Melka at Seavey Vineyards, Bryant Family and Vineyard 29, as well as a stint as Assistant Winemaker at Lewis Cellars. He knows what great wine is supposed to taste like.

This particular bottling is important for a lot of reasons, though a Cabernet this good for this kind of price is always relevant. This, and the 2018 Howell Mountain, were the elite efforts of a serious run of excellent Cabernets from Thread Feather. The blend is 97% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Merlot, and 1% Cabernet Franc grown on an eastern facing slope on the west side of the Silverado Trail. 

The Thread Feather Cabernet Sauvignon Stag’s Leap is bright and opulent with dark fruit notes of dark cherry and blueberry compote and hints of baking spice, cedar, violet, crushed stone and a slight whiff of mint. It is rich with beautiful structure, superb balance, polished tannins, and luscious layers of fruit that represent the nuances of Stag’s Leap, the appellation, to a tee. Simply put, this wine blew us away, and you know we don’t say that kind of thing all that often. 

We’ve seen plenty of top-end, ‘reserve’ bottlings from Stag’s Leap wineries at three to five times the price that don’t deliver this much character and joy.  A gorgeous, hedonistic Cabernet even in its impetuous youth, at $39.98, you’ll feel like you got away with something that was mismarked.

TASTY STAGS LEAP RED FOR UNDER $25? WE GOT THAT

There are a couple of points to cover here.  First, while we have not been out protesting at college football games, we do recognize global warming is an issue.  We see it in wine.  Don’t worry, we aren’t going to go off on some long tirade about greenhouse gases.  Wine is supposed to be one of the fun things in life.  But changes in the weather will likely affect what you drink because warmer seasons will change the varietal mix, even what gets bottles as a varietal.

What are we getting at?  Grapes known as ‘late-ripening varietals’ are changing roles a bit as the growing seasons warm up.  We aren’t expecting to see Cabernet in the Mosel any time soon.  But a little more sunshine means Mourvedre will more consistently mature, and you’ll likely see more of it in Chateauneufs and Rhone blends.  In Bordeaux, many are increasing their percentages of Cabernet Franc in the vineyards.  Over a century ago, Carmenere was pretty much kicked out of Bordeaux because it didn’t mature very well.  Now it is thriving in the New World.  Our point is that the times they are a-changin’.  So it is, with perfectly straight faces, we’d like to introduce you to a potential new friend, Petit Verdot.  

If you have been around wine a while, you know that Petit Verdot is a bit player in Cabernet and Bordeaux blends in many wine regions.  You may have even had a varietal Petit Verdot at some point, typically dark and inky with firm tannins and a cool edge, maybe even a little bite to the fruit.  Most folks probably encountered it at some sort of a component tasting or bought a bottle to see what the stuff was about.  We’d suspect if you had the experience, you understood why it was mainly a blending varietal, filed it in your memory bank, and got on with your life. 

There have been exceptions.  We vividly recall the sensational Von Siebenthal Petit Verdot from Chile we sold a few years ago.  But by and large, most Petit Verdot bottlings are more novelty than anything else.  However the Avid Petit Verdot Napa Valley 2017 kind of changes everything!  A little more sunshine, a little more physiological ripeness, and voila, you have a Petit Verdot that can play to a broad audience.  You expect the deep purple color with aromas of ripe black fruit, plum, blackberry but the floral notes of violet and lavender come as a welcome surprise. There are also hints of smoked meat and leather, a hint of minerality, and none of the ‘edge’ typically associated with the grape. 

The wine itself is 100% Petit Verdot from the Stag’s Leap District that sees 50% American and 50% French oak for six months and additional time in the bottle.  This is a delicious mouthful without qualification, and it can play along with grilled meats as well as any Cabernet.  It’s actually better than most of the Cabs you could buy for this kind of price, and it’s doubtful you could find much of anything with a Stags Leap designation on it for this kind of tab.  Tasty, full-flavored, polished red?  Napa Valley bargain?  Petit Verdot breakthrough?  It’s all of these things.

So who are these guys?  The story here is a pretty short one since this is the first release under this label by Avid Wines, itself only founded in 2017.  But these are the same folks that brought us the eye-opening Acoya bargain blend sourced from Oakville and Yountville just a few weeks ago.  Winemaker Hossen Namdar started his journey with Domaine Chandon back in 1982 and later went on to the successful, occasionally surprising Stephen Vincent negociant lines.  Partner Bob Goyette himself was a founder of La Crema Vinera, a serious boutique in the 80s and 90s before financial issues set in and they were purchased by Jess Jackson.  Bob also did time at Chalk Hill and Benziger’s Imagery Series. 

These guys have definitely been around the block so to speak, and it shows in the fact that this label got off the ground and delivered some impressive juice right off the bat.  They aren’t big players yet.  There were only 750 cases of this surprising Petit Verdot made.   But it is clear this team, thus far anyway, has displayed quite an eye for quality and value.

Both that Acoya blend, and now this ‘next-gen’ Petit Verdot, are a little off the beaten path.   But then how often do you see anything from Stags Leap for under $25?!   Most important, it over-delivers in the glass.  That’s what matters in the end.