Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1037369
{ SOMMjournal.com } 91 D uring a rapt moment at The SOMM Journal's rst-ever Stags Leap District (SLD) SOMM Camp this June, I found myself glancing down a long table at the pond's edge of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars to take in the scene. Plates of barbequed meats and picnic-esque sides emptied as some of the best sommeliers in the country rubbed elbows with the wine - makers of the SLD. The winery was a tting location to debut our multi-day excursion, as any somm worth their salt knows Stag's Leap Wine Cellars is the American winery that won the Cabernet Sauvignon category in the 1976 Judgment of Paris. After Marcus Notaro, Head Winemaker at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, welcomed the group, he perhaps unwittingly offered a clue as to how this unprecedented upset happened. "I think SLD Cabs are the Goldilocks of Cabernet. Our Fay vineyard has this big perfume note, voluptuous tan - nins, and a soft, silky personality, but when you open older vintages of Fay, you see that perfume is still there," he said. "That for me as a vintner is very exciting." The somms sampled this sort of ex - citement before dinner at a walkaround meet-and-greet tasting, held in the caves at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. There they tasted older vintages against the current releases of nearly the entire "valley within a valley," a term used by locals to describe the geographical position of the small SLD AVA—1 mile wide and 3 miles long— nested within Napa Valley. As Notaro promised, the 1995 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Fay Vineyard created a stunning comparison with the 2015 vintage, with its "silky personality" becoming even more luxurious. "As Napa goes, I truly think the nest wine is coming out of this region, and this is why I wanted to bring some of the best somms I know to the SLD," said Master Sommelier Fred Dame, who at - tended as the ofcial SOMM Journal camp counselor. "When I started coming to Napa in 1976, it was much different then. The world has changed, but if you listen, you can hear the heartbeat here." Back at the dinner, the dense and chocolatey yet earthy Quixote 2011 Helmet of Mambrino Petite Sirah unfurled into my glass, creating a striking symmetri - cal opposition with the barbeque smoke ooding into the sky. The plume revealed a beam of dim sunset light that pointed to the glowing, golden Stags Leap Palisades in the distance. A few days later on the last night of camp, it would become abundantly clear that those protective, warming rocky out - croppings were a big part of why we were all gathered there in the rst place—and perhaps also why the region's eponymous stag might have lived another day. Of course, the local winemakers and wine - growers had something to do with it all, too: Without these wise shamans, we may have never tasted the alluring alchemy of the SLD. "The Rest Is History" In the mist of the early morning, Master Sommelier Gillian Ballance, who serves as the National Education Manager for Treasury Wine Estates, walked the somms through the great history of Stags' Leap Winery while squiring them about its lush grounds. Even without an insightful Master Sommelier acting as a tour guide, relics of the winery's great past can be found everywhere visitors look. This is particularly true in the castle- esque Manor House, which is lled with sepia-toned pictures of the estate's previ - ous families and their guests dating back to the early 1900s: the Chase family, who built the house and likely the country's rst plunge pool; the Grange family and its matriarch, who liked to entertain wealthy San Franciscan elites; and Carl Doumani's tenure of ownership, which began in the 1970s and ended after the winery was sold to Beringer Vineyards in the late 1990s. "It was then they really started to catapult this winery to the reputation it has today," Bal - lance said of Beringer. "They built a modern winery, expanded and replanted vineyards, and brought on a fantastic winemaker. The rest is history." Above, Master Sommelier and SLD SOMM Camp counselor Fred Dame finds "inspo" by the pond at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. At right, Gillian Ballance, MS, and Stags' Leap Winery Winemaker Christophe Paubert pose under the property's famous stag horns. SOMM Journal Publisher Meridith May, Cliff Lede Vineyards COO Remi Cohen, and Nancy Bialek, Executive Director for the Stags Leap District Winegrowers Association, at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars.