Community Tasting Note

• msuwine wrote: 94 points

  December 4, 2019 - This classy and savory wine probably needs another year or two in order to hit its stride, but it has a compelling polish and intensity at the moment. I haven't had a wine from Stag's Leap Wine Cellars in about 10 years, but this is distinct and delicious wine, albeit a touch darker and earthier than your typical Napa Cabernet.
  
  Dark red in color and full in body, the wine offers aromas of boysenberry, cocoa beans, wild thyme, and graphite. Tastes of blueberry, milk chocolate, and olive tapenade, with a round and creamy finish that carries fine-grained tannins (more polished than many Stag's Leap wines, though I guess the suppleness is a characteristic of Fay). Blend of 98% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Cabernet Franc. 14.5% alcohol. Decant at least an hour.

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2 Comments

• wineotim commented:

  12/4/19, 6:40 PM - Nice review, I think the last bottle of this I drank was the '97. I should re-visit this after reading your descriptors.

• msuwine commented:

  12/4/19, 7:04 PM - Yeah, I think I last had some from the mid-2000s, and they were nothing special. I personally love the origin story of the winery - i.e., former philosophy student driving his family cross-country to start a winery in the late 60s that would win the Paris Tasting a short time later. I know the winery is corporate-owned now, but the story always stuck with me.
  
  Anyway, I haven't had anything else from Fay Vineyard, but I do think this wine is unique, in the sense that is has a creamy and savory profile I don't often associate with Stag's Leap. Anyway, maybe it's just the vintage, but this wine hit the right notes for me, at least tonight. I'll be curious what you (and anyone else) thinks!

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