Fiancetto Cabernet Sauvignon Stags Leap District 2020

This one is more on the DL than any other secret Napa Valley Cabernet we’ve ever offered but the details I can reveal are staggering.

Any respectable single-vineyard Stag’s Leap Cabernet goes for three figures these days. It’s a shame but it’s true.

Wines from this winery often go for FOUR figures; well over a thousand dollars per bottle and basic bottlings off this particular vineyard typically retail for $350. This is one of the great vineyards of Stag’s Leap – but somehow Ry Richards was able to weasel out six barrels – as long as he never reveals his source.

That’s about all I’m allowed to say other than confess that this is one of the most serious Cabernets I’ve tasted in a very long time. Fiancetto SLD Cab certainly speaks to its source; two well-drained vineyards in the District. These vineyards are loaded with pebbles and gravel, a gravelly loam perfect for vines to send roots deep into the earth, bringing back a terrific mineral quality to the grapes.

The wine is aromatically superb, with a nose filled with high-toned fruit and baking spice. Ripeness is no issue here, the wine is packed with juicy black fruit, with hints of cedar and cocoa. Complex and layered, the finish is a minute long, truly a classic Napa Cab, one of the best young American wines I have ever tasted.