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Napa Valley Cabernet 2021: Top wines from Stags Leap District

The Stags Leap District AVA helped launch the modern reputation for Napa Cabernet Sauvignon at the 1976 Judgement of Paris. Jonathan Cristaldi takes a closer look at the top Cabernet Sauvignons from the appellation in the 2021 vintage.

By Jonathan Cristaldi

last updated 22 October 2024

in Tastings

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2021 Cabernets Stags Leap District — The old vine block at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars.

(Image credit: Clive Pursehouse)

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Napa Valley Cabernet 2021: Full vintage report and top-scoring wines

The Stags Leap District is named after a legend among the indigenous Wappo people, about a stag escaping a hunting party by leaping to its death at a gap in the rock promontory that sticks out in the foothills of the Vaca Mountain range.

Planted at elevation (over 120 metres above sea level) among hills pierced with large rocks, the slightly foreboding visage presented by the vineyards in the Stags Leap District AVA belies the supple, silky, and inviting wines produced there in 2021.

The preceding winter was colder than average, and, like the rest of Napa Valley, this area’s spring was dry. The 2021 vintage was Stags Leap District’s fourth consecutive year of below-average rainfall, and irrigation became tricky as wells fell to their lowest levels since 2017

Scroll down for the top Stags Leap District 2021 Cabernets

Stags Leap District at a glance

Climate:

Moderately warm with afternoon marine winds coming north from San Pablo Bay to cool the warmer air radiating off the bare rocks of Stags Leap itself and the surrounding hillsides.

Soils:

The soils in the Stags Leap District range from volcanic gravel loams on the valley floor to its rocky hillsides, with hard clay subsoils.

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Elevation:

From sea level to about 120m in elevation.

Due to the drought, bloom and veraison were both accelerated to a lightning pace, resulting in lower yields of densely flavourful berries.

‘It was a lower-yielding vintage,’ noted Christopher Tynan, Director of Winemaking for Cliff Lede Vineyards, who emphasised that the quality of the 2021 harvest in Stags Leap was exceptional.

Tynan credits this to a growing season that was ‘very forgiving weather-wise,’ with ‘no significant heat spikes’ to over-ripen the fruit and a long picking window that allowed producers in the AVA ‘to capture that freshness and acidity,’ balancing the deep, sultry fruit flavours and concentration of the vintage.

Shafer winemaker Elias Fernandez said that with longer hang times and a perfect growing season, ‘the fruit looked phenomenal’.

Stags Leap District 2021: the top-performing producers:

Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
Cliff Lede Vineyards
Dalla Valle Vineyards
Shafer
Schrader

Stags Leap District 2021: the top-scoring Cabernets

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Napa Valley Cabernet 2021: Full vintage report and top-scoring wines

Scroll down for the top Stags Leap District 2021 Cabernets

Stags Leap District at a glance

Stags Leap District 2021: the top-performing producers:

Stags Leap District 2021: the top-scoring Cabernets

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