Stylish and expensive. Affordable and enjoyable. Hitting the big time with media recognition. Three Stag’s Leap wineries offer different encounters. Experience them all.
Trip to Napa: Baldacci, Steltzner, Hartwell
Rolando Herrera was born in a small Mexican village, and grew up in St. Helena, in the Napa Valley. He went on to become a winemaker, learning his craft at prestigious producers like Paul Hobbs and Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. He is now the consulting winemaker at Baldacci Family Vineyards in the Stag’s Leap District, which is where I met him. (Mr. Herrera also makes cabernet sauvignon under his own label with the very engaging name, Mi Sueno—my dream.)
Baldacci makes a line of wines called the “Family Collection” that include a gewürztraminer, a syrah, and a pinot noir, but it is their cabernet sauvignon, grown and bottled in the Stag’s Leap District, that justifiably command our attention. At the top of the list is their 2003 Brenda’s Vineyard cabernet sauvignon. A few months ago Wine Enthusiast Magazine said “with this wine, Baldacci hits the big time, and so does winemaker, Rolando Herrera,” and awarded it 95 points. Important Napa Valley cabs are expensive, and 2003 Brenda’s Vineyard sells for $70. They currently sell two other cabs, 2003 IV Sons, $30, and 2003 Baldacci Family Estate, $49.
Steltzner Vineyards makes some of the more affordable wines in the Stag’s Leap District. Located to the east of the Silverado Trail, with the hills of the Vaca range and 2,000 foot high basalt bluffs behind it, the winery is housed in a handsome Mediterranean style building with a long vault tunneled into the ground. On a recent trip to Napa, I met their winemaker, Tim Dolven. I realized how much of a hands-on winemaker Mr. Dolven is, and how proud of his wines he is, as we barrel tasted our way through most of the 700 feet of the storage vault and then had lunch in a charming room within the vault.
In their current releases, Steltzner offers a good, basic Bordeaux style blend, 2003 Napa Valley Claret, for $18, an estate grown 2002 Stag’s Leap District merlot for $26 and an estate grown cabernet sauvignon for $36. Their chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and rosé all sell for $18.
If there is one word to describe Hartwell Vineyards, another Stag’s Leap producer, it is stylish. The winery is a handsome place with an opulent tasting room built deep into the hillside caves. It can be visited only by appointment. And the wines—total production is 3,500 cares per year—are crafted with a distinctive style. They are made for consumers used to luxury goods. Their least expensive cabernet sauvignon, 2003 Miste Hill, is $60, and their 2002 Estate is $115. The 2003 Estate merlot is $65. You ought to get impressive wines at those prices—and you do. I sampled the Hartwell wines with some carefully selected cheeses, and it made me wish I could sit down to dinner with a few bottles.
The Napa Valley is thirty miles long, with about 300 wineries and 43,000 acres of vineyards. It sounds like a lot, and when you are visiting you can only focus on a fraction of the total. The Stag’s Leap District, which I visited, is a mere two miles long and about a mile wide, a designated viticulture area that produces some of the most sophisticated cabernet sauvignons in the world. There has been a trend in California winemaking toward higher alcohol levels, which in unskilled hands produces a “hot” taste, but the ones I had were well balanced, with individuality and sophistication. It’s easy to understand why the world looks to Napa for great cabernet sauvignon.
