NAPA: Napa wine runs on house styles and friendly rivalry, which is what makes the bottle released on Thursday, Oct. 15, unusual. The 2024 Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon: A Collaboration is a single wine blended from Cabernet lots contributed by fifteen wineries across the appellation, and the district association says only 900 bottles were crafted.
It is the fourth vintage of the project run by the Stags Leap District Winegrowers. Each participating winery contributes one of its distinguished Cabernet Sauvignon lots, and a master blending team drawn from district wineries shapes the final wine, which is meant to speak for the appellation rather than for any single house.
Five blenders, fifteen contributors
The 2024 blending team, listed on the district's collaboration page, is Travis Bullard of Cliff Lede Vineyards, Robbie Meyer of Malk Family Vineyards, Alison Rodriguez of Silverado Vineyards, Elizabeth Vianna of Chimney Rock Winery and Josh Widaman of Pine Ridge Vineyards. The team changes each vintage, a design the association says is intentional, giving more of the appellation's winemakers a turn at shaping the blend.
Fifteen rival labels, one bottle, and a label that lists them all.
The fifteen contributors named by the association are Baldacci Family Vineyards, Chimney Rock Winery, Cliff Lede Vineyards, Ilsley Vineyards, Lewis Cellars, Lindstrom Wines, Malk Family Vineyards, Missimer, Pine Ridge Vineyards, Quixote Winery, Regusci Winery, Shafer Vineyards, Silverado Vineyards, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars and Stags' Leap Winery. The same fifteen names are numbered on the bottle's label.
Executive director Nancy Bialek framed the project as the district setting competition aside, saying the wineries share a deep connection to this place and that the collaboration lets them put individual identities aside and create something together. The district lists the release date as Oct. 15, with access offered through its website to allocation holders and to readers who request an invitation.
