Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All Vintages“This is a Grand Cru vineyard by Napa Valley standards,” winemaker Gustavo Gonzalez points out. “With Shafer’s Hillside as a backdrop, the volcanic soils from 25-year-old vineyards slope down to the Silverado Trail. The wine reminds me of St. Julien, with more acidity than Oakville and Rutherford.” Indeed, the high pitch of the fruit proves that point. Dappled with white and red pepper and a whisper of cumin, the wine offers a flourish of violets, black plum, and graphite. Espresso whooshes in on the finish, percolating with dark berries and earthy sage.
Mira Winery produces a limited amount of single vineyard wines from well known Napa Valley AVA Districs Stags Leap, Los Carneros and Rutherford. With over 20 years of wine making experience, Winemaker Gustavo Gonzalez is a craftsman whose critically acclaimed wines are of exceptional character and complexity, delighting the palates of wine drinkers today and for years to come. Our well established and long term relationships with some of the most elite and olders growers in Napa Valley allows us to manage the process from bud to bottle, vinifying the grapes to maintain the characterisitics of these exceptional geographies and produce a portfolio a uniquely luxurious wines.
Legend has it that quick and nimble stags would escape the indigenous hunters of southern Napa Valley through the landmark palisades that sit just northeast of the current city of Napa. As a result, the area was given the name, Stags Leap. While its grape-growing history dates back to the mid-1800s, winemaking didn’t really take off until the mid-1970s after a small but pivotal blind tasting called the Judgement of Paris.
When a 1973 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon won first place against its high-profile Bordeaux contenders, like Chateau Mouton Rothschild and Chateau Haut-Brion, international attention to the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley escalated rapidly.
The vineyards in this one-of-a-kind wine growing region receive hot afternoon air reflecting off of its eastern palisade formation. In combination with the cool evening breezes from the San Pablo Bay just south, this becomes an optimal environment for grape growing. While many varieties could thrive here, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot dominate with virtually no others, save for a spot or two of Syrah.
Stags Leap soils—eroded volcanic and old river sediments—encourage well established root systems and result in complex, terroir-driven wines. Stags Leap District reds have a distinct sour cherry and black berry character with baking spice and dried earth aromas, and supple tannins.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.