2021 Dakota Shy Steltzner Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Dakota Shy was founded in 2008 by Todd Newman, who had worked in fine dining and at Revana Family Vineyard. But he wanted to create a luxury wine estate, so he teamed up with his friend Tom Garret, a winemaker and Napa Valley native whose winemaking experience included stints at Turley Wine Cellars, Joseph Phelps Winery, Robert Mondavi and Revana. Dakota Shy has an estate at the base of Pritchard Hill, but it also sources grapes from all over Napa Valley. The estate makes Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc and a rosé. The wines have earned ratings in the mid-90s from reviewers. Vinous has noted that the estate’s flagship wines “are contemporary Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons that offer a compelling interplay of richness and structure, with perhaps a slight leaning toward the more extroverted end of the spectrum.”

Stags Leap District AVA in southern Napa Valley has a storied history. It is home to Stag’s Leap Cellars, whose 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon won the famous Judgment of Paris blind tasting that included several of Bordeaux’s most exalted First Growths. Vineyards were started in area in the late 19th century, but the district’s rise in prestige started in the late 1960s when Nathan Fay planted Cabernet Sauvignon. Fay later sold his estate to Warren Winiarski, founder of Stag’s Leap Cellars. The district was given its own AVA designation in 1989, and today there are 1,400 vineyard acres. The AVA is especially notable because it was the first in the U.S. to be granted AVA status based on terroir. Its distinctive soils is a mix of volcanic soils, river sediment and loamy clay-like soil. Because the soils don’t retain water well, vineyards in Stag’s Leap tend to grow fruit with great intensity and flavor. Cabernet Sauvignon accounts for 95% of the grapes planted in Stags Leap.

One of the most widely grown grape varieties, it can be found in nearly every wine growing region. A cross between Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. It’s a hardy vine that produces a full-bodied wine with high tannins and great aging potential.