Stags Leap District
Mediterranean
A cool, rocky corner of the Napa Valley whose silky, supple Cabernet beat Bordeaux in the 1976 Judgment of Paris.
Overview
About Stags Leap District
The Stags Leap District, an AVA since 1989, is a small area on the eastern side of the Napa Valley, in the shadow of a rocky outcrop. It is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon.
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars' 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon took first place in the 1976 Judgment of Paris, beating leading Bordeaux wines in a blind tasting. The district's wines are often described as silkier and more supple than those from elsewhere in Napa, with plum and dark cherry fruit.
Stags Leap District is marked on the map.
United States of America
Shaded: California. Map units are states, provinces or départements, so a smaller place appears as the larger area that contains it.
The land
Climate & terroir
Climate
Mediterranean
Cooler than much of the valley thanks to breezes from San Pablo Bay funnelling up the valley in the afternoons, and a rocky landscape that reflects and radiates heat into the evening.
Terroir & soils
What the vines grow in
Volcanic rock and gravelly, well-drained alluvial loam, generally less clay-rich than the soils to the west.
Go deeper
Rules, years & producers
Stags Leap District is an AVA, a geographic boundary, with no ranking inside it.
AVA Stags Leap District
Established in 1989. At least 85% of the grapes must come from the area, and a varietal wine must be at least 75% of that grape.
Napa Valley AVA
The wider appellation.
What's grown here
Grapes
Each grape's page links back here.