2015 Poetry Stags Leap District

The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Poetry emerges from steep hillside vineyards at the top of Cliff Lede's Poetry vineyard in Stags Leap. A dark, sumptuous wine, the Poetry captures all of the qualities of Stags Leap in the rich, voluptuous style that is such a Cliff Lede signature. Inky blue/purplish fruit, spice, new leather and tobacco add nuance throughout.

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, this monumental beauty should only be purchased by patient consumers as it's going to need 7-8 years or more of cellaring. These wines are made by Christopher Tynan, who might just be the hottest winemaker on the planet today. As with Tynan’s own wines, these releases from Cliff Lede are mind-blowing wines that I wish every reader could taste.

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. This needs cellaring for 3-4 years at least, but it should emerge incredibly profound.