“Fifty years ago, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon S.L.V. bested some of France’s best-known wines at an unassuming blind tasting. That tasting, chronicled as the Judgment of Paris, became a cultural phenomenon that changed the wine world.” – Vinous

YOWZA. Another 2023 SLWC Deep Cover???

In just a couple of hours, we blew through a sizable stash of Cask 23 last week. Obviously, we could have used more; alas, that well ran dry. We DID come back with some S.L.V. though, even LESS but here today while it lasts…

Per Decanter, “On 15 July 2026, a single bottle of 1973 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon sold at Christie’s for $22,500.” Fast forward 50 vintages, and here we are, at the best price you can find anywhere, nonetheless.

Yep, same wine, 50 vintages later… not much has changed in the vineyard really, but a lot has, too…

It seems like everyone in Napa is talking about the 50th anniversary of the Judgement of Paris in 1976. And for good reason. A young Steven Spurrier hosted a competition in Paris, blind-tasting California wines against the best of France. And to everyone’s amazement, two wines from Napa won.

If Warren Winiarski’s 1973 had not beaten First Growths Haut-Brion and Mouton, we would not be here. Think about it. American wine would not be the global thing it is. And we have, in part, SLWC to thank.

The revolution this momentous event started put California in the forefront of the prized fine wine regions of our planet. We owe it all to this winery and this event. Bottle Shock, the movie documents it all too well. But what the movie doesn’t tell you is that it was a taste of Nathan Fay’s homemade Cabernet in 1969 that convinced Winiarski that this terroir was world-class. He bought the vineyard next door and started his winery within a year, beginning in 1970.

Nathan Fay was a trailblazer. When he planted Cabernet Sauvignon in the Stag’s Leap District in 1961, everyone thought he was mad – that it was too cold there for Cabernet to ripen. Come 1976, the world learned the truth. And while he also sold fruit to several other Napa legends (Heitz Cellars, Charles Krug, Robert Mondavi, Sequoia Grove…), he continued to work closely with Winiarski, eventually selling the site to SLWC in 1986.

Robert Parker once put it best: “Readers who have followed Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars’ Cask 23 since the debut vintage of 1974 realize these wines are often deceptively easy to drink when young, yet age amazingly well despite what appears to be their forward, flattering, precocious personalities. This winery enjoys a much-deserved fine reputation for its bevy of complex, elegant, authoritatively flavorful red wines…

Here we go, another flash in the pan… hush on the price, please; we’d be in serious trouble.

98 Points – Decanter “The S.L.V. is a 34-acre estate planted primarily to Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc in 1970, famed for producing the triumphant 1973 Cabernet at the Paris Tasting. Its volcanic and alluvial soils offer excellent drainage, translating into wines of grip and structure, and the 2023 vintage is downright masterful. This is the classic iron fist in a velvet glove: the aromatics are subtle and restrained, belying the power and structure that unfold on the palate. Black-fruited and deeply layered, with sagebrush and ironstone notes, the wine builds with robust blackberry fruit and ultra-fine cocoa-powder tannins that provide a perfect foundation for the mineral-laced fruit. Polished, suave, and gorgeous in its youth, this is a wine that will age gracefully, developing beautifully nuanced complexity for decades to come. Fermented entirely in stainless steel and aged for 21 months in 100% new French oak. Drink 2026-2045.”

98 Points – James Suckling “A classic wine from a great vineyard. So fragrant in pine needles, spearmint and blackcurrant aromas, then layers of violet, cocoa, cedar and bay laurel flavors wrapped in snug tannins. Fresh, firm and well-balanced, with many years of enjoyment ahead. Drinkable now and best from 2033.”

97 Points – Vinous “The 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon S.L.V. is fascinating to taste, as it is the estate’s latest release, but it’s also a wine that is going to need quite a few years to be at its most rewarding. The long, cold growing season produced a vibrant, intensely aromatic Cabernet Sauvignon. Dried herbs, graphite, mocha and exotic spice overtones are some of the many notes that build over time. The heady, explosive finish is just stunning. This is the first vintage in which a dollop of Cabernet Franc enters the blend. Drink 2035-2053.”

97 Points – Wine Advocate “Richer and fuller than the Fay Vineyard bottling, the 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon S.L.V. is loaded with generous notes of mixed red and black cherries. It’s not quite full-bodied, but it’s expansive on the palate—and somehow it does that without seeming heavy or overwrought. The luscious finish unspools in long, savory waves of mocha, earth and black olives. It’s impressive stuff. Drink 2027-2045.”