The Stuff Of Legends

​Weird fact – the Staglin family purchases their historic Rutherford Bench estate in 1985, the year I graduated high school.  Okay, so there’s no real relevance in that little factoid other than the year they began a journey toward making some of the best Cabernet in Napa, I was beginning a strange and twisted odyssey toward the wine business.  And all points lead me to right smack dab in the middle of the Jungle Jim’s wine department, with my good friends Stacey Meyer and Ian MacDonald from Heidelberg Distributing here in town, and the gorgeous wines of Staglin Family Vineyard.

Backtracking just a bit, Staglin Family Vineyards were originally born back in 1864, when John and Mary Steckter purchased 367 acres (for the sum total of $34) from a wealthy California pioneer named Serranus Clinton Hastings (how upper crust is that name?).  Tragically after the death of John, Mary had to sell the property for legal reasons and after numerous owners, it landed in the hands of Frank G. Manley, whose family held the property until 1963.  The Sullivan family then acquired the property, and ultimately the land’s prune orchards were replanted to grapevines under the expert hands of Andre Tchelistcheff (one of Napa’s legendary viticulturists and winemakers) and the grapes went into Beaulieu Vineyards Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet.  After the death of Louis Sullivan in 1984, the property ended up sold to the Staglins, and that is where we are today.

Four wines were on the docket, the Staglin Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 (The 30th Anniversary release), the Staglin Family Vineyard Chardonnay 2014, and the Salus Estate Chardonnay 2013 and Salus Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 -their second label bottlings.

Beginning with the Salus Estate Chardonnay 2013, this beauty shimmers with gorgeous notes of apple skin, lemon and white flowers, the palate aglow with pineapple, pear and hints of lemongrass.  It’s a stunning wine that highlights 100% oak aging (61% new oak) sur lies (on the lees – the spent yeast after fermentation) for 10 months.  It’s simply beautiful.

The Staglin Family Vineyard Chardonnay 2014 uses less new oak during fermentation (54%), yet is richer, fuller and more voluptuous and decadent on the palate than its little brother.  Creamy textures of baked brie, apple tartlet, honeyed apricot and baking spices emerge as the complexities reveal themselves layer after layer.  It’s a pretty powerful Chardonnay and needs a bit of time.

The Salus Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 spends 19 months in 100% French oak barrels (90% New) and it serves to accentuate a full-bodied, sensuous style of Cabernet Sauvignon (blended with 2% Cabernet Franc) that is truly remarkable.  Loads of black fruits, leather and espresso show off its dense, thick characteristics of chocolate, tar and gravel – a real highlight of the 2013 vintage (and I hope a precursor to the impending Staglin Cab 2013 release).

And finally the Staglin Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 (30th Anniversary release), an almost otherworldly Cabernet Sauvignon (blended with 10% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot) showing highly impressive red and black fruit notes, loads of cocoa, coffee, camphor and mineral underpinnings. Winemaker Fredrik Johansson, vineyard manager David Abreu and the team at Staglin have a lot to be proud of here.
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Now I can recite accolades like most wine sales people would do but there is almost no reason to do so – the scores, impressive as they may be, are moot when you taste what is in the bottle.  Granted, I am fortunate at times like these to taste these wines, which makes me feel extremely lucky to work in this industry, for Jungle Jim’s.
It hearkens back to my wine business mantra, that wine is a journey, and we all start somewhere.  The Staglins and me, in some strange roundabout way, began our journey into the wine world in 1985.