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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 91.9 pts. and median of 92 pts. in 42 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Cuellar's Cellar on 4/4/2024 & rated 92 points: Drank slowly, and this wine still has some years to come. Tannins were very present. 8 years in the bottle and still rocking!! Cheers (386 views) | | | Tasted by wconnolly on 5/27/2023 & rated 91 points: Typical Lede Cab. Big, bold, black fruit, tannins. This has great possibilities but despite this being well into the drinking window, I am convinced we opened this about three or four years too early. Tannins overwhelmed the fruit. Looking at other notes, a lengthy decant might have helped but I will wait a while before the next one. (1404 views) | | | Tasted by iamandyc on 9/22/2022 & rated 95 points: This bottle was singing with a decant on day #1 and even better on day#2. At its peak for my taste as it combines beautiful red and black fruit, marvelous dusty plush mouthfeel, subtle secondary flavors and a long smooth finish. Such a classic 2016 Napa Stags Leap cab. Just delicious! Killer QPR at club pricing. (2000 views) | | | Tasted by Cuellar's Cellar on 8/29/2022 & rated 93 points: a lovely wine, and this wine is ready today. Nice rich fruit. Opens up nicely. Tannins are starting to mellow out. Drink now through the next few years. Cheers (1878 views) | | | Tasted by Ruby99 on 8/13/2022 & rated 93 points: We don't usually open bottles this young but wanted to see what we had here. Brought this home from a recent trip to Napa having tasted the 2019 equivalent bottle and really liking it
Dark purple color with a wonderful sweet dark fruit nose like blackberry pie. We decanted for just 30 minutes before the first glass.
On the palate the wine is rich and smooth with very well integrated fine tannin making it completely approachable despite it's youth. Dark fruits like sweet black cherry, plum and blackberry are in your face with hints of vanilla and maybe coconut developing with aeration. the finish is fairly long.
The only thing keeping my score at 93 rather than 95 is that it is more monolithic than complex. Absolutely delicious, but not a wine for debating the nuances. Perhaps with time more subtleties might develop...but it is drinking superbly right now. And while probably age-worthy I think this is a hedonistic style best drunk at 6-10 years of age
I wish wines like this cost $45, but even at $90 I think I will try to buy a couple more. Excellent bottle. (1741 views) | | | Tasted by blabbott on 3/23/2022 & rated 94 points: This bottle shows how Cliff Lede sees a cab. Big, dark and blue fruit, flint, good tannins especially on the finish, lots of layers including a bit of cocoa, spice and excellent fruit. Really long great finish. Fabulous anniversary wine. (2134 views) | | | Tasted by Kbentley007 on 2/5/2022 & rated 92 points: Decanted for 2.5 hours, moderate sediment in the bottle. Either needs a much longer decant or just more time. Think I would revisit for a 6 hour decant. Huge wine, dark staining inky purple. Has potential to improve. (1631 views) | | | Tasted by yelnak on 10/1/2021 & rated 90 points: Coravined a glass. Intense nose of inky plum and dusty blueberries and black licorice. after an hours sit came ashy cassis, black currants clove along with the aromatic fruit. Medium Stags Leap tannins brought long cedar granite and leather finish. Putting back in the cellar to mellow further. (1644 views) | | | Tasted by Misterobit on 7/6/2021: Don't know much about US wine, but that was a damn good bottle ! Easily the wotn with Barton 03 and Bosquet Les Roches 2018. Full mouth of dark cherries with softened tanins in which I was surprise. LOVELY (1932 views) | | | Tasted by wine4lux on 5/22/2021 & rated 96 points: Young wine, very approachable. Great now and will likely excel for years to come. Paired with short ribs, oh boy. Blackberry, vanilla, cassis and cedar. (1869 views) | | | Tasted by hhusky on 4/28/2021: The wine looks garnet colored. The legs are slow. There is light sediment in the bottle. It smells like blueberry, blackberry, black currant (cassis), vanilla, light toast, violet and chocolate.
It tastes like blackberry, blueberry, black currant (cassis), fig, light toast, vanilla and chocolate. The body is full. The wine has fleshy texture. The wine finishes long. The wine has medium acidity. (1809 views) | | | Tasted by VinVet on 4/3/2021 & rated 92 points: Loads of blackberry fruit and graphite in the nose. Dark berries, pencil shavings and taut tannins create a very dry cleansing finish. Improves in the glass. Showing well now but probably even better in 3-5 yrs. (1530 views) | | | Tasted by demitte on 3/1/2021 & rated 100 points: It was amazing (1516 views) | | | Tasted by Stonger the Better on 12/27/2020 & rated 93 points: This one is going to be a beauty. Delicious but definitely needs some more time to age. At least a few years. Will try again in 2023 and every couple thereafter. (1365 views) | | | Tasted by Coachron13 on 12/23/2020 & rated 94 points: Best Rock Block since 2012 Beautiful Generation. Dark fruit forward, but super smooth. Only needed about an hour of air to hit its stride. Hints of chocolate on the finish. Still young, score could rise a little in the future. (1181 views) | | | Tasted by tc from santee on 11/15/2020 & rated 94 points: 13 months since my last review and this wine has evolved brilliantly. Dark and deep. So much flavor and still time to get better. I love juice from Stahs Leap. (1411 views) | | | Tasted by CoryDean44 on 11/7/2020 & rated 94 points: A lovely fragrance of cedar, unsmoked cigar, and thyme. A beginning of tart raspberry followed with black currant, cherry, and a hint of tangy citrus. The fine grainy tannins are the highlight of this youthful beauty. A long drying finish that envelops the entire tongue and cheeks and leaves you craving another sip and “we ain’t got no water”. 94 points. (1344 views) | | | Tasted by jstrovel@gmail.com on 10/4/2020 & rated 91 points: Nice wine. Might be a bit better in a year but good now. (1272 views) | | | Tasted by Cuellar's Cellar on 8/12/2020 & rated 90 points: Great wine. Easy to drink, and is ready today. Cheers (1466 views) | | | Tasted by mattiasjansson on 12/27/2019 & rated 91 points: Very tannic - needs a lot of time (2971 views) | | | Tasted by tc from santee on 10/4/2019 & rated 90 points: This is a young Cab. With much potential. Dark berries, dark chocolate, spice and leather. Tannins still tight. I’ll revisit in 2 years. (2869 views) | | | Tasted by mwneil on 9/30/2019 & rated 95 points: Napa Day trip (Napa): Great stuff, big wine, needs time as it is tannic but in a good way that balances the lush fruit, structured, complex, drank with steak and salmon, the wine has character, would drink again. (2906 views) | | | Tasted by yelnak on 8/16/2019 & rated 93 points: Dusky nose on opening but omg there’s not a better stats leap can at any price than a Lede Rock Block. Black fruit, Cassis, tobacco, cocoa , leather and refined tannins. Drink now through 20 imho. (2616 views) | | | Tasted by Cuellar's Cellar on 4/23/2019 & rated 90 points: Good juice. Still needs time. Very tight, I can imagine that this wine will be good in a few years (2546 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By James Suckling
JamesSuckling.com (10/16/2019)
(Cliff Lede Napa Valley Stags Leap District Soul Fire, Red, United States) Subscribe to see review text. | By Antonio Galloni
Vinous, Napa Valley’s Extraordinary 2016 Cabernets (Dec 2018) (12/1/2018)
(Cliff Lede Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Soul Fire Napa Valley Red) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of JamesSuckling.com and Vinous. (manage subscription channels) |
| Cliff Lede Producer websiteCabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon is probably the most famous red wine grape variety on Earth. It is rivaled in this regard only by its Bordeaux stablemate Merlot, and its opposite number in Burgundy, Pinot Noir. From its origins in Bordeaux, Cabernet has successfully spread to almost every winegrowing country in the world. It is now the key grape variety in many first-rate New World wine regions, most notably Napa Valley, Coonawarra and Maipo Valley. Wherever they come from, Cabernet Sauvignon wines always seem to demonstrate a handful of common character traits: deep color, good tannin structure, moderate acidity and aromas of blackcurrant, tomato leaf, dark spices and cedarwood.
Used as frequently in blends as in varietal wines, Cabernet Sauvignon has a large number of common blending partners. Apart from the obvious Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the most prevalent of these are Malbec, Petit Verdot and Carmenere (the ingredients of a classic Bordeaux Blend), Shiraz (in Australia's favorite blend) and in Spain and South America, a Cabernet – Tempranillo blend is now commonplace. Even the bold Tannat-based wines of Madiran are now generally softened with Cabernet SauvignonUSAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Napa Valley Napa Valley Wineries and Wine (Napa Valley Vintners)Stags Leap District Stags Leap District |
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