Stag's Leap Wine Cellars selling off its wine library

[Mark_Mo_rr_i_ss_ette]

Not to be confused with Stags’ Leap or Stags Leap or Stegs Leep or…

All of the above are easy passes.

No way! Old Stags’ Leap petite sirah from the 70’s is awesome!

We had a Stag’s Leap (yes, 's) petite sirah from 1993 in November that was amazing as well. Clearly had years left ahead of it.

My wife and I have sentimental reasons for liking Stag’s Leap, but the terms of their wine club are silly so whenever we feel the urge we just buy retail. But, I will be scoping out the auction for some better deals. It will be interesting to see how the prices shake out for such large quantities.

[Paul_Miller]

All of the above are easy passes.

No way! Old Stags’ Leap petite sirah from the 70’s is awesome!

We had a Stag’s Leap (yes, 's) petite sirah from 1993 in November that was amazing as well. Clearly had years left ahead of it.

My wife and I have sentimental reasons for liking Stag’s Leap, but the terms of their wine club are silly so whenever we feel the urge we just buy retail. But, I will be scoping out the auction for some better deals. It will be interesting to see how the prices shake out for such large quantities.

Ok… Which Stag’s Leap are we talking about? One of them made a PS that was a crowd pleaser that was always popular at steak houses. The PS I am thinking of was made by a different Stag’s Leap than the one that made Cask 23.

[Mark_Mo_rr_i_ss_ette]

I am talking about Stag’s Leap. I believe you are talking about Stags’ Leap.

There is a longer story behind this, but we brought this from our cellar to Stag’s Leap in November. They were shocked this existed. By chance, our guide/server was the wife of the head wine maker (Marcus Notaro). She texted him a picture, and he was surprised to see it to. (We have 5 more bottles in our cellar)

[Rich_Brown]

I am talking about Stag’s Leap. I believe you are talking about Stags’ Leap.

There is a longer story behind this, but we brought this from our cellar to Stag’s Leap in November. They were shocked this existed. By chance, our guide/server was the wife of the head wine maker (Marcus Notaro). She texted him a picture, and he was surprised to see it to. (We have 5 more bottles in our cellar)

That’s awesome to hear as I have a bottle of 1991 in my cellar! Didn’t realize they were that hard to come by! Excited to open it at some point!

[Alan_Kaplan]

I don’t buy direct from Stag’s Leap but if you were a loyal long time buyer from them (or any other winery that does this), wouldn’t you be kind of ticked that they hauled off and sent all this stuff to auction instead of giving you and other loyal customers a crack at some of this stuff first?

I will say that unlike lots of other wineries, I recall that occasionally they have offered “library” vintages from time to time but iirc at way inflated prices vs the secondary market.

Not at all. It’s their wine. They stored it, carried the cost of it, gave consumers the opportunity to buy it.

Smart business in my opinion. Difficult times in this industry - need to do what you need to do to stay above water.

[Nate_Simon]

https://wine.ha.com/c/search-results.zx?N=2003+793+794+792+2088+4294940462&Nty=1&Ntk=SI_Titles&Ntt="Stag's+Leap"

[Guillermo_M]

Not going to lie - I had to look up the size of a Melchior. I’ll take 2. Standard corkage apply?

It’s waived if you buy another Melchior off the list.

Or at least a bottle of Don Melchor.

Or maybe a Franck Balthazar Cornas, or Gaspard Brochet Champagne.

What a wise, even kingly thing to say.

[Randy_C]

I don’t buy direct from Stag’s Leap but if you were a loyal long time buyer from them (or any other winery that does this), wouldn’t you be kind of ticked that they hauled off and sent all this stuff to auction instead of giving you and other loyal customers a crack at some of this stuff first?

I will say that unlike lots of other wineries, I recall that occasionally they have offered “library” vintages from time to time but iirc at way inflated prices vs the secondary market.

Not at all. It’s their wine. They stored it, carried the cost of it, gave consumers the opportunity to buy it.

Smart business in my opinion. Difficult times in this industry - need to do what you need to do to stay above water.

Difficult times in this industry?? that’s a good one. Their neighbors at Shafer just got a giant buyout offer . . .

[Chris_Seiber]

It’s waived if you buy another Melchior off the list.

Or at least a bottle of Don Melchor.

Or maybe a Franck Balthazar Cornas, or Gaspard Brochet Champagne.

What a wise, even kingly thing to say.

I sleep in a king sized bed. Even though it was off the shelf, it’s like it was designed to my exact specifications.

[Robert_M_yers]

I am talking about Stag’s Leap. I believe you are talking about Stags’ Leap.

There is a longer story behind this, but we brought this from our cellar to Stag’s Leap in November. They were shocked this existed. By chance, our guide/server was the wife of the head wine maker (Marcus Notaro). She texted him a picture, and he was surprised to see it to. (We have 5 more bottles in our cellar)

Mark, that’s an incredible gesture that imo should have been met with a bit more fanfare from the winemaker. Kudos to to for drinking it at its origin

[Mark_Mo_rr_i_ss_ette]

I am talking about Stag’s Leap. I believe you are talking about Stags’ Leap.

There is a longer story behind this, but we brought this from our cellar to Stag’s Leap in November. They were shocked this existed. By chance, our guide/server was the wife of the head wine maker (Marcus Notaro). She texted him a picture, and he was surprised to see it to. (We have 5 more bottles in our cellar)

Mark, that’s an incredible gesture that imo should have been met with a bit more fanfare from the winemaker. Kudos to to for drinking it at its origin

We invited several staff members in to try a drink, and everyone got a lot of enjoyment out of it. It was fun to see them taking photos of the bottle.

No one was sure exactly when, but apparently some time in the late 90s they stopped making Petite Sirah, in deference to their neighbors at Stags’ Leap for whom PS had become more of a signature bottling. Most of the staff was not aware that they had ever made it.

[Markus_S]

I am talking about Stag’s Leap. I believe you are talking about Stags’ Leap.

There is a longer story behind this, but we brought this from our cellar to Stag’s Leap in November. They were shocked this existed. By chance, our guide/server was the wife of the head wine maker (Marcus Notaro). She texted him a picture, and he was surprised to see it to. (We have 5 more bottles in our cellar)

Mark, that’s an incredible gesture that imo should have been met with a bit more fanfare from the winemaker. Kudos to to for drinking it at its origin

We invited several staff members in to try a drink, and everyone got a lot of enjoyment out of it. It was fun to see them taking photos of the bottle.

No one was sure exactly when, but apparently some time in the late 90s they stopped making Petite Sirah, in deference to their neighbors at Stags’ Leap for whom PS had become more of a signature bottling. Most of the staff was not aware that they had ever made it.

I do vaguely recall that they made one, and might have even tried it before too (this would have been the late 80’s).

[Alex_N]

Not to be confused with Stags’ Leap or Stags Leap or Stegs Leep or…

Having both labels multiple times since the 90s, I somehow didn’t know that and learned their (Stag’s/Stags’) story for the first time this past weekend, and also never noticed the apostrophe.

[M_Meer]

In case anyone missed it, Heritage is still sending out emails for their pre-auction tasting on March 8 from 6 to 8pm in Beverly Hills.

[Rich_Brown]

I am talking about Stag’s Leap. I believe you are talking about Stags’ Leap.

There is a longer story behind this, but we brought this from our cellar to Stag’s Leap in November. They were shocked this existed. By chance, our guide/server was the wife of the head wine maker (Marcus Notaro). She texted him a picture, and he was surprised to see it to. (We have 5 more bottles in our cellar)

That’s awesome to hear as I have a bottle of 1991 in my cellar! Didn’t realize they were that hard to come by! Excited to open it at some point!

You were spot on - the 1991 was incredible! Posting a note on it now.

[timmy_roos]

I know they updated(replanted)some of their vineyards in the 90s. Maybe pushed petite out?

[Mike_S]

I have one more bottle of their 1978 merlot. I had one eight months ago and it was alive and although very little fruit had a great nose.

[C_Martinelli]

FWIW, there is a fair amount of Stag’s Leap avail again at Heritage next week.