2014 Stags Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Fay
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Tasting notes
100% Cabernet Sauvignon. Quite rich and sweet. A change in style since the Ste Michelle takeover? There is terroir here but just a bit too much sweetness for my taste. (JR)
Critic scores
Robert Parker
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Fay is 100% varietal, all from the Fay Vineyard in Stags Leap, and was brought up in 90% new French oak. It has a classic bouquet of blackcurrants, cedary spice, tobacco leaf, and damp earth. This rich, full-bodied, nicely concentrated 2014 has the vintage’s charming, forward style yet has enough mid-palate depth and ripe tannin to keep for two decades.
Lots of chocolate, wet-stone and currant aromas follow through to a full body that is tight and reined in. Very silky tannins that remain plush and enticing. Try in 2021.
The 2014s are not yet in bottle. As for the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Fay Estate-Grown, this has a similar saturated purple color, terrific presence on the palate, great ripeness, loads of minerality, floral notes and beautifully pure blackcurrant liqueur intermixed with licorice and spice. It is full-bodied and rich with well-integrated tannin and wood. This is another 20- to 25-year wine, but should drink well after its release.
About the producer
Warren Winiarski founded Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars in 1970 when he purchased the Stag’s Leap Vineyard in Napa’s Stags Leap District. The 1973 S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon – only the second vintage – won the famous 1976 Judgement of Paris blind tasting, rocketing the estate to fame.