2023 Cliff Lede "Poetry" Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon

Super refined and polished, this wine opens with lifted notes of unsmoked tobacco, ripe cassis, and black cherry, layered with blue fruit nuances and cool wet slate minerality. It’s wonderfully fresh and crisp on the palate, the fruit deep and penetrating yet bright and pure. A spine of blood orange acidity brings both darkness and lift, while layers of rose petals and rose stem round out the finish. The complexity is off the charts in 2023, finishing with beautifully exotic tropical notes of guava and dried mango. The tannins are mineral-laced, superfine, and build with a crescendo through the long finish. There’s plenty of length and intrigue. Rounded out with 1% Cabernet Franc. The Poetry Vineyard, carved into a steep west-facing hillside, stretches from the highest elevations of the Stags Leap District appellation down to the valley floor. Its uniqueness lies in its shallow volcanic soils atop fractured shale, planted to legendary, proprietary heritage selections of Cabernet Sauvignon.