The history
Warren Winiarski was not your obvious candidate for Napa Valley legend. He had studied philosophy at the University of Chicago, briefly pursued graduate studies, and then — in the way that makes sense to almost nobody except the person doing it — decided to move to California to make wine.
He arrived in Napa Valley in 1964, working first at Souverain Cellars before becoming the founding winemaker at the newly opened Robert Mondavi Winery from 1966 to 1968. Then in 1969 he tasted something that changed everything: a homemade Cabernet Sauvignon made by a local farmer named Nathan Fay. It came from Fay's own plot of vines in the southeastern part of the valley, and Winiarski thought it tasted like something that could compete with the best wines in the world.
A year later, in 1970, he bought a 44-acre parcel of land right next to Fay's. It cost him under $200,000. The plot had been a prune orchard, with a few scattered fruit trees and some old Petite Sirah vines. He cleared it, planted Cabernet Sauvignon, and named the place after the dramatic cliff face looming over it — the Stags Leap Palisades, named in turn after a local legend of a stag leaping to escape hunters in the 19th century.
The first vintage came in 1972, made in a rented facility with help from the legendary winemaking consultant André Tchelistcheff. Just three years later, that wine would be in Paris.
The Judgment of Paris in 1976 can be read in our blog but the 1973 S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon beat the best red wines from Bordeaux. The phones at the winery did not stop ringing. Stag's Leap Wine Cellars went from obscure Napa start-up to international name almost overnight.
Winiarski expanded steadily after that, buying Nathan Fay's original vineyard in 1986 — naming it FAY in his honour — and adding a Chardonnay vineyard called Arcadia in 1996. He ran the winery until 2007, when at age 79, with no family member ready to take over, he sold to a partnership of Washington State's Ste. Michelle Wine Estates and the Italian wine dynasty Marchesi Antinori for a reported $185 million. In 2023, Antinori took full sole ownership. The estate's wines, and its reputation, have continued uninterrupted.
The vineyards
The two main estate vineyards — S.L.V. and FAY — sit side by side in the Stags Leap District, yet they behave differently enough that the winery treats them as separate wines.
S.L.V. (short for Stag's Leap Vineyard) was planted in 1970 and is the original. It covers 35 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and 1.5 acres of Cabernet Franc, sitting on predominantly volcanic soils with good natural drainage. It was the S.L.V. grapes that went into the Paris-winning 1973 bottle.
FAY was the vineyard that started everything — Nathan Fay planted it in 1961. Its soils are very different from S.L.V.: more alluvial, with rocks, stones, gravel, and loam. This difference in the ground beneath the vines shows up clearly in the glass — FAY wines tend toward a brighter fruit profile, while S.L.V. brings more structure and intensity.
A third source, Danika Ranch, is mostly loam on flatter land and contributes to the broader Napa Valley range.
Winiarski's Arcadia Chardonnay vineyard, bought in 1996, was actually purchased from Mike Grgich — the same winemaker who made the winning white wine at the Judgment of Paris. It remains a contract fruit source following the 2007 sale.
Farming across the estate is taken seriously. The vineyard team uses sheep grazing, cover crops, and integrated pest management without herbicides. Drip irrigation is used instead of overhead watering, allowing the team to control water delivery down to individual sub-blocks. In November 2024, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars became the first estate in the Stags Leap District to be certified Regenerative Organic — the highest standard for organic agriculture in the world. The estate also holds Napa Green Winery, Napa Green Land, and Fish Friendly Farming certifications.
The terroir
The Stags Leap District, where the estate vineyards sit, is a small pocket of Napa Valley — roughly one mile wide by three miles long — that became an official American Viticultural Area in 1989. Its defining characteristic, according to the government ruling that established it, is the soil.
The district is sandwiched between the dramatic Stags Leap Palisades to the east and the gentler hills toward the Napa River to the west. During the day, temperatures regularly hit the mid-90s°F in summer, giving the grapes the warmth they need to ripen fully. At night, cool air drains down from the hills and breezes off San Pablo Bay drop temperatures into the 50s°F, slowing everything down and preserving the acidity and structure in the fruit.
The Palisades themselves do something useful too: they absorb heat during the day and radiate it gently in the evening, extending the growing window while also shielding the vines from harsh afternoon winds.
The soils mix clay loam river sediments in the lower parts with coarser, eroded volcanic material from the Vaca Mountains on higher ground. Both drain well and keep vine vigour low, which tends to concentrate flavour in the grapes. S.L.V.'s volcanic soils and FAY's alluvial base sit within this same district but produce measurably different wines as a result — a clear demonstration of what soil composition can do.
The overall style that comes from this combination of heat, cold nights, drainage, and volcanic influence is what the winery describes as an "iron fist in a velvet glove" — Cabernet Sauvignons with real structure and density but with a softness and balance that sets them apart from bigger, more extracted styles found elsewhere in California.
Winemaking
Current head winemaker Marcus Notaro joined in 2013 after nearly two decades of Cabernet Sauvignon experience. His stated philosophy combines what he calls Old World techniques with New World knowledge — aiming for wines with ripeness and restraint rather than sheer power.
Fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks. Ageing is in French oak barrels, with the percentage of new oak varying considerably depending on the wine and the vintage — CASK 23, for instance, can see up to 100% new French oak in strong years, while other wines in the range use far less. The vineyard team and the winery team work closely together from before harvest, with Notaro and his colleagues involved in decisions throughout the growing season, not just when the grapes arrive at the cellar.
The winery also has a 35,400-square-foot wine cave — not a marketing gimmick but a practical ageing space that keeps temperature and humidity stable year-round without the energy cost of climate-controlled warehousing.
The focus throughout is on making wines that show where they come from. The two estate vineyard wines, S.L.V. and FAY, are deliberately kept separate so that the difference in soil and character between the two plots remains visible in the bottle.
