As you enter into the heart of the Napa Valley on the scenic Highway 29, a striking sign greets visitors with a quote from famous poet Robert Louis Stevenson, “…and the wine is bottled poetry.” When Cliff Lede purchased a steep hillside vineyard in the Stags Leap District, he took a cue from Stevenson and named the vineyard “Poetry.” Likewise, a few years later, he opened the luxurious five room Poetry Inn on that same hillside. The scenic terraces of the estate Poetry Vineyard bear the fruit for Cliff Lede’s flagship Cabernet Sauvignon, Poetry.
100 points, Jeb Dunnuck
“A blend of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, 4% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Poetry spent 21 months in French oak prior to bottling. It too is inky purple/blue colored and offers heavenly notes of graphite, liquid rocks, crushed violets, blueberries, charcoal and cassis. Fabulously concentrated, opulent, layered, and ripe, with serious amounts of tannin that come out with time in the glass…” – Dec 2017
98+ points, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
“A blend of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, 4% Merlot and a 1% splash of Petit Verdot, the deep purple-black colored 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Poetry offers up crème de cassis, baked black cherries and blackberry preserves with hints of chocolate, licorice and pencil shavings plus smoked meat and truffles. Full-bodied, muscular, taut and very firm, with very fine-grained tannins, the palate is concentrated, long and minerally.” – Oct 2017
The 2015 Poetry Cabernet Sauvignon is SOLD OUT.
Each fall, we offer the newest release of Poetry Cabernet Sauvignon to those on the Poetry mailing list.
The wine is sold in handsome custom wood boxes in six-packs of 750mL bottles, or individual 1.5L, 3L, or 6L bottles.
Join our wait list to express your interest in acquiring the next release.
Join the Mailing List
Those interested in securing each new release of our three elite “Platinum Playlist” Cabernets, including Poetry, Songbook, and Beckstoffer To Kalon, should contact our Wine Concierge. Platinum Playlist memberships may be available.
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Stags Leap District
2015 Poetry Cabernet Sauvignon
There are pretty violets among the mineral aromas with black currant, lavender, and spice box notes unfurling out along the bouquet.
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Vineyard Notes
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The Poetry Vineyard, carved into a steep west-facing hillside, reaches from the highest elevations of the Stags Leap District appellation to the valley floor. This vineyard draws its uniqueness from shallow, volcanic soils atop fractured shale. Due to the stressful nature of the site, planted with high vine density and farmed to very low yields, the vines develop slowly and produce small flavorful berries. The vineyard was designed by David Abreu and planted to legendary, proprietary heritage selections of Cabernet Sauvignon.
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Production Notes
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In the cool darkness of night, grapes were hand-picked into twenty-five pound bins to minimize crushing. By early morning, the grapes were subjected to rigorous selection by our three-tiered sorting process, which includes our cutting edge optical sorter and a slow, individual berry hand sort. The fruit was gently gravity-delivered to small tanks by our unique crane system, which kept the berries intact. Cold soaks lasted from five to eight days, and fermentations were managed through a combination of pump overs and délestage. Extended maceration of up to six weeks ensured exceptional extraction and fine-tuning of tannin profiles. Following twenty-one months of élevage in French oak barrels, 80% of which were new, the blend was selected from our best lots of the Poetry Vineyard.
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Winemaker Notes
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Our Grand Vin was sculpted in a vintage where only the smallest of clusters and berries were produced by the hillside vines. That chiseled concentration is reflected in its tightly wound character. Youthful and primary, the nose on the fledgling 2015 Poetry is all crushed rock and cool slate. There are pretty violets among the mineral aromas with black currant, lavender, and spice box notes unfurling out along the bouquet. The summer blackberry and licorice flavors pour over the palate in a well delineated fashion and persist long after each taste. This wine tastes like it will last forever.
-Christopher Tynan, Winemaker
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Wine Notes by Vintage
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Production
763 cases
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Vintage
2015
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Appellation
Stags Leap District
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Bottling Date
July 2017
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Wine Advocate
98+
