2022 Stags' Leap Winery The Leap Estate Grown Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, USA
The market on this bottle
Wine-Searcher tracks this 2022 Stags' Leap Winery The Leap Estate Grown Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley across the open market. Their published U.S. low is $80.12 and the average is $97.47. Our slash is $90.00.
Stags' Leap The Leap 2022
2022 Stags' Leap Winery The Leap Estate Grown Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, USA
Estate grown Cabernet Sauvignon from Stags Leap District.
James Suckling scored this 2022 The Leap 96 points, and Lisa Perrotti-Brown scored it 95 points!
He tasted this vintage in December 2025 and found black currant and red currant over spiced poached plum, with licorice, bitter cocoa, and a mahogany line, then a full body whose tannins sit inside a silken feel and a savory finish that stays on the fruit, and he said to drink it or hold it.
Lisa Perrotti-Brown tasted it for TheWinePalate.com in May 2026 and found "crushed black currants, fresh plums, and boysenberries" opening into lavender, tilled soil, and bay leaf, with fine-grained tannins and a long earthy finish.
When James Suckling and Lisa Perrotti-Brown both stop on this same estate Cabernet, what are you waiting for?
"This is the Cabernet the estate kept for itself!"
Stags' Leap Winery Video 2024, the winery's own film.
The barrels they held back
The Leap is the barrel selection, the blocks and the cooperage the estate held back for this bottling. The label reads estate grown, Stags Leap District, Napa Valley, and the fruit is 100% from that ground.
The skins stay with the wine for the better part of a month. That long maceration is where the color and the tannin are built, before the best barrels are chosen for the blend.
Heat, then a cooler October
The first half of 2022 was calm and early, and the fruit kept a bright acid line. An early September heat wave then pushed the ripening hard.
The vines held through that heat. A cooler October let the later Cabernet finish its flavor and its tannin, which is the glass this bottling is poured from.
Estate fruit, five grapes
This 2022 is 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Petit Sirah, 4% Petit Verdot, 1% Malbec, and 1% Merlot. Every part of that blend is estate fruit.
The winery's own glass is deep ruby, black cherry and blackberry and dark plum first, then violet, black pepper, cassis, dark chocolate, espresso, and cedar. The tannins are velvety, the acidity stays natural, and the wine is expressive now and built to age 10 to 15 years.
The Leap Cabernet Sauvignon tasting, the winery's own film.
Ribeye, and venison
Beef and venison are the plates that meet this Cabernet. A ribeye takes the black fruit and gives the tannin something to work against. Venison is the leaner cut, and the savory finish has somewhere to go.
Pan-seared ribeye
A thick ribeye with a deep brown crust.
Why it works: The black fruit and the tannin meet the crust and the fat. Beef is the plate this Cabernet is poured beside.
View Recipe for Pan-seared ribeye (opens in a new tab)
Venison loin
Seared venison loin with a rosy center.
Why it works: Venison is leaner than the ribeye. The savory finish in the glass has a cut that does not cover it up.
View Recipe for Venison loin (opens in a new tab)Take the bottle.
A 96-point estate Cabernet from Stags Leap District, silken and ready to drink or hold.
The bottle is $90. Add it.
