ARTEMIS (2021)

About this wine

The 2021 Artemis from Stag's Leap Wine Cellars is built primarily from Cabernet Sauvignon with small additions of Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Merlot, and was aged about 15 months in French oak. On the nose you get ripe boysenberry and black cherry, with floral violet notes and baking spice that include cocoa and a hint of graphite. The palate is full and creamy on entry, moving into a mid palate that shows bramble and dark plum, layered with mocha and subtle cedar from oak. Texture is silk like with fine grained tannins and persistent acidity that give the wine structure and an energetic finish. The 2021 vintage draws fruit from several Napa sites including Atlas Peak, Coombsville and Stags Leap District, which adds its mix of high toned fruit and mineral driven accents.

About the grape

Cabernet Sauvignon, the dominant variety in this bottling, traces its roots to Bordeaux and is prized in Napa for thick skins and structured tannins, here it was selected from top Napa sites including Atlas Peak and Coombsville to provide the wine's backbone and age worthy structure. Cabernet Franc contributes aromatic lift and mid palate finesse, and is used in small proportion to add floral and savory notes drawn from select vineyard lots. Malbec and Merlot appear in trace amounts to soften texture and enrich mid palate fruit, both varieties being carefully blended in tiny percentages to round the wine without changing its Cabernet driven profile. The grapes were sourced from a mix of high altitude and valley sites with varied soils, and the blend reflects deliberate vineyard selection and blending choices rather than heavy use of any single clonal or varietal experiment.

Quick facts

• 🏹 ARTEMIS is named after the Greek goddess of the hunt, the winery describes the label as the result of a hunt for the best Cabernet fruit across Napa Valley
• 🍇 The 2021 bottling is almost pure Cabernet, it is 98% Cabernet Sauvignon with just tiny amounts of Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Merlot
• ⛰️ More than half of the 2021 grapes came from Atlas Peak, so the wine carries high elevation fruit character from volcanic soils
• 📦 The 2021 ARTEMIS was made in large quantity for a Napa premium wine, roughly 87,500 cases were produced that vintage
• ⭐ The wine spends about 15 months in oak with one third new French barrels, critics praised its plush mocha and violet notes earning consistent scores in the low to mid 90s

Palate profile

Producer

Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, founded in 1970 by Warren Winiarski in Napa Valley, California, gained international acclaim when its 1973 S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon won the 1976 Judgment of Paris, surpassing esteemed French wines. This victory was pivotal in establishing Napa Valley as a premier wine region. The winery's estate includes the S.L.V. and FAY vineyards, with the latter being the first Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard planted in the Stags Leap District. In 2007, the winery was acquired by Ste. Michelle Wine Estates and Marchesi Antinori, continuing its legacy of producing world-class wines.