Stag's Leap Wine Cellars
From EncycloWine
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, not to be confused with Stags' Leap Winery, is a Napa Valley winery established by Warren Winiarski in 1972.
Winarski was born in 1928 in a large Polish section of Chicago, Illinois. After graduating from high school, he entered the University of Chicago, then left for a school of agriculture and mining in Colorado, and finally graduated from St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1952. Winiarski then returned to the University of Chicago to begin graduate work in political theory, as well as spending a year of study in Naples. He taught at Chicago for six years while working on a Ph.D.
However, Winiarski's experience in Italy convinced him that he should be a winemaker. After working for, and learning from, various wineries, including that of Robert Mondavi, he bought a carefully selected 50-acre ranch in 1970, which he turned into a vineyard. He planted Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot along with the existing Petite Sirah vines and began making wine as Stag's Leap Wine Cellars.
Six years later, a bottle from Stag's Leap Wine Cellars was selected for competition in the historic Paris Wine Tasting of 1976. Its 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon won first place among the red wines. In so doing, the wine beat out Château Mouton Rothschild, Château Montrose, Château Haut-Brion, and Château Léoville-Las Cases.
In the Judgment of Paris 30th Anniversary Wine Tasting replication, Stag's Leap ranked number two in the field of ten.
A bottle of 1973 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon is now in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
See also
- California wine
- San Francisco Wine Tasting of 1978
- Ottawa Wine Tasting of 1981
- French Culinary Institute Wine Tasting of 1986
- Wine Spectator Wine Tasting of 1986
- Halekulani Wine Tasting of 2000
Sources
- Taber, George M. Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting that Revolutionized Wine. NY: Scribner, 2005.
