Image 1 of 1
Napa Cabernet. Not something I saw in the cards when starting Stagiaire 8 years ago. Specifically this vineyard is in Lovall Valley: a cold, high elevation, volcanic valley situated between Napa and Sonoma valleys, but only accessible from the Sonoma side(its weird). South-west exposition. Very shallow soils strewn with blistered chunks of lava. The vines from age and maybe just the right amount of neglect produce only a few tiny intense clusters that are just now starting to tease something promising…
This vineyard was offered to me years ago(I passed). Caleb Leisure farmed it for maybe 2 seasons. And now my friend Coral Wang stewards this site. We met when she moved back to the states from France during covid, bonding over our shared inability to make things work in europe and the struggles of starting something here in California. She changed my life buy getting me a rice cooker for my birthday back in 2021. It’s been an honor to get some grapes from her and follow along as she grows as a farmer and winemaker.
2023 being such a cool year, and this region being a cool site, we really twiddled are thumbs for a while waiting on these grapes to come in. Ultimately getting a group of friends together when the vines started to shed their leaves at relatively low brix.
I didn't have any experience with Cabernet, so I kept things simple. All of the fruit was destemmed. Macerated for about 10 days with daily pumpovers. In barrel for a year. I considered a second year of barrel aging, but this isn't a bombastic fruity Cab, and I wanted to preserve the delicate fruit that we had. In bottle for just over a year now, and its a really pretty and delicate example of the variety. Haunting. Ethereal. I think we are only beginning to see what this wine has to give, and I salivate imagining drinking it in a decade.
Combined orders of 3, 6, and 12 bottles only please. Must be 21 or older to order. Adult signature required for delivery. Shipping unavailable for ND, NH, UT, MS, AL, VT, KY, SD.