Bold nose with dark color. Smooth on the palate, with blackberries, cinnamon, black currant, and oak. Medium tannins, with a smooth finish. — 2 months ago
Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars “Artemis” Cabernet Sauvignon 2021, Napa Valley, California – USA 🇺🇸
Overview
Artemis is the gateway wine of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, one of Napa Valley’s most iconic producers, forever linked to the historic 1976 Judgment of Paris. The 2021 vintage is exceptionally polished and graceful, showcasing Napa valley-floor fruit with balance and finesse. Primarily Cabernet Sauvignon with small percentages of Merlot, Malbec, and Petit Verdot layered in for additional complexity and structure.
Aromas & Flavors
Welcoming aromas of baked blackberry, cassis, and black cherry unfold alongside cedar, subtle vanilla, graphite, mocha, and baking spice. As the wine opens in the glass, deeper secondary notes emerge while maintaining freshness and elegance.
Mouthfeel
Full-bodied with rounded tannins and balanced acidity. Silky textures glide effortlessly across the palate, finishing long with dark fruit, oak spice, and a refined herbaceous edge.
Food Pairings
Excellent with grilled ribeye, herb-crusted lamb, braised short ribs, hearty mushroom risotto, aged cheddar, or gouda.
Verdict
A graceful and refined Napa Cabernet that continues to demonstrate why Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars remains a benchmark producer. The 2021 Artemis is already entering a beautiful drinking window now, approachable, polished, and elegant, while still carrying enough structure to evolve further with additional aging.
Did You Know?
The original Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon won the famous 1976 Judgment of Paris, the blind tasting that shocked the wine world and helped establish Napa Valley among the great wine regions globally.
🍷 Personal Pick
This is exactly the kind of Napa Cabernet that reminds people elegance and power can absolutely coexist in the same bottle. Cheers! — 3 months ago
Incredible! Still lively! — 5 years ago
Textbook high-end Petite Sirah. Inky, brooding, and well structured. Cracked black pepper, violets, expensive oak, black licorice, and smoky incense. — 5 years ago
Smells like great California Pinot. Tastes and feels like it. Carries me into the dark dark goth night of Pinot NOIR of vineyards named “Sleepy Hollow” which is great for the day I’m recommending it for (stay tuned). Rich enough ripe enough but the acid cuts through. I’d drink this. I do drink this. — 7 years ago
7/2026. Still bold and full of flavor. Paired well and the short ribs at Mr. Friendly’s. — 13 days ago
Clear, pale gold in color; on the nose, it's clean with pronounced intensity primary aromas of lemon, starfruit, and citrus blossoms; on the palate, it's dry, with medium acidity, medium alcohol, medium body, and pronounced primary flavors of lemon peel, honeydew, and white pages with a long finish. This wine is balanced and intense. Overall, I rate this wine as very good. — 2 months ago
10 year old vintage decanted. Fruit bomb with strong hints of berries. Fruit forward middle and finish. Went great with steak — 3 months ago
Trader joes impulse buy. Good stuff! — 5 years ago
Complex and smooth, pear, vanilla and some mineral tones — 7 years ago
Tremendous value… Absolutely beautiful Cassis profile & structure! Less than $20 for Rich / opulent gem! — 14 days ago
We had the 2017 Vintage on 5/19-20/26. Consistently good. Consistent flavors of black cherry, black raspberry and baking spice. New World. Medium bodied. Nice mouthfeel — 3 months ago
Another Judgement winner. What fun to have these. Chance of a lifetime! — 4 months ago
Even the hands of time come to a halt. Now discontinued, this was a familiar and accessible goto bottle which rarely disappointed. This is one of their last vintages and nearing its peak drinkability… I’m gonna miss seeing this label at restaurant lists, shop shelves and impromptu gatherings 🙃 — 7 months ago
Jarvis has always been such a unique producer with its incredible underground facility and fascinating lineup of wines. Their Finch Hollow Chardonnays (this one and the Unfiltered version) are outrageously expensive, but they sure know how to deliver on flavor profile.
My notes here are actually quite similar to the 2015 I opened last year, but everything is a touch more restrained. Normally quite rich with expensive oak usage, this seems nicely balanced…it’s almost fresh in profile. Sweet lemon cream alongside marzipan and sea breeze aromatically. From a phenolic standpoint, it’s close to some of the Aubert offerings with its powerful texture. Finishes with a surprising amount of honeysuckle, caramel dipped apple, and honeycrisp. This seems to be built for a bit longer aging compared to the 2015. I’ll be curious to see how the 2018 is. — 5 years ago

Another great year for the legendary SLV line. — 7 years ago
Jay Kline

From magnum; poured into a decanter just prior to service and enjoyed over the course of a few hours. The 2005 Fay pours a garnet color with a translucent core; medium+ viscosity with moderate staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is developing with notes of cassis, blackberries, Poblano pepper, tobacco, leather, inorganic earth, and a pleasant mix of cool and warm spices. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ tannin and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is medium+ with a nice mineral zip. What a lovely expression of Fay. In this larger format, everything is currently in balance. The acid was welcomed with the grilled ribeye and this felt more like a classic expression from the 70’s than the more modern fruit bombs. Impressed. Drink now through 2045. — a day ago