WTN: 1992 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Fay Cabernet

[Brad Ballinger]

1992 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon, Fay Vineyard, Napa Valley. I have a small group (and getting smaller) of California Cabernet from 1992, the year my wife and I were married. Every year on our anniversary I pull out one or two, and this bottle was selected this year. The bottle was stood upright for 3 days, and poured from bottle into glasses without decanting. There was a “sediment film” stuck to the inside of the bottle that happens at times as an indication of acceptable storage. Bricking not only at the rim, but in the color overall. Enchanting nose of roses, chocolate, cedar, some mint. The flavors unfold gently in layers in the mouth where there is blackcurrant, coffee, menthol. The tannins have resolved nicely, and have a fingertip grip on the wine giving it just enough structure to hold everything together. After about 30 minutes in the glass, there was some dropping of the fruit and a more austere wine in its place. I positively love wines that are this nuanced and layered as compared with all the wines on the market now that are behemoths in their youth and steroid victims with age.