2012 Odette Estate Stags Leap Cabernet Sauvignon

Odette is on the fabled Silverado Trail, and it is the newest project from the PlumpJack Group, a San Francisco-based hospitality conglomerate that owns numerous restaurants, resorts and wineries. Gavin Newsom, a former San Francisco mayor and current Lieutenant Governor of California, is a founder and partner. He is one of a small group of private investors who owns PlumpJack Group. Odette is a 45-acre estate in the Stags Leap AVA with 36 acres planted to Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The vineyards were planted in 1970 by Dick Steltzner, with some replanting done in the 1990s. Until 2012, when the PlumpJack Group bought the property, it was owned by the Steltzner Family. Today Jeff Owens is winemaker and Odette plans to produce about 10,000 cases annually. Odette makes an estate Cabernet Sauvignon.

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.