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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.

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 2021: the top-scoring Cabernets


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