Winemaker Notes

Our Stagecoach Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon features a deep garnet-purple color and a complex aroma of crème de cassis, stewed black plums, and boysenberry preserves, accented by licorice, cedar, and sandalwood notes. This full-bodied wine delivers concentrated black fruit flavors and layers of exotic spices, balanced by firm, grainy tannins and a refreshing finish. The palate reveals ripe purple fruit with touches of vanilla, pine wood, and moist earth, leading to a succulent mid-palate. The tannins are well-structured, culminating in a long, opulent finish.

Vineyard Notes

Located 1,800 feet above sea level in Napa Valley you will find the famed Stagecoach Vineyard nestled along the steep mountain tops and sweeping hillsides of the Vaca Mountains. Notorious for “Extreme Terroir” Stagecoach Vineyard produces some of the most prestigious and sought after fruit in Napa Valley.

The Cabernet Sauvignon we are sourcing from Stagecoach Vineyard comes from block C3A in the highly acclaimed Pritchard Hill region of the vineyard. Red volcanic earth and clay loam dispersed with large boulders comprise this vineyard. The soil composition coupled with moderate mid-day temperatures result in Cabernet Sauvignon that is beautifully balanced with concentrated, bold flavors and ideally ripened, silky tannin

Winery Story

'Casey Stringer was a highschooler from Wisconsin traveling to California with his parents to visit colleges in the Bay area. Due to an unfortunate passing of a distant relative who they had planned to visit during the trip, they had a gap in their schedule. They decided to head to the Napa Valley, a place that they had all certainly heard about, but knew little about. He and his father Chip were taken with Napa’s laid-back lifestyle, vineyard filled landscapes and the wines. Casey knew then that his path in life will be with wine. Back at home in Wisconsin with those memories still fresh, Casey picked up a job at a local wine shop to begin learning all he could while Chip began collecting wines both from Napa and around the world.

Casey did end up going to college in California, but in Santa Barbara where he studied photography. He immediately got a job as a cellar hand at a local winery where he soon realized that he wanted to spend his time in the cellar and vineyards and not in photography school. Throughout his twenties, Casey traveled both near and abroad seeking different experiences in winemaking. He worked at Robert Sinskey Vineyards in Napa, Archery Summit in Oregon and a few wineries in Central Otago and Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, where he attended school for a formal winemaking education. Upon returning to California, Casey worked in the cellar at the esteemed Santa Ynez cult winery Jonata.

While visiting his family in Wisconsin he met a girl, and as the story goes, decided to stay put and get married. While this seemed like a detour in his winemaking journey, the wine bug was still firmly planted. Casey reached out to his California connections and began shipping premium West coast fruit to Wisconsin and making what was arguably Wisconsin’s best-ever wine produced in a garage, but as he says, that wasn’t a sustainable business model. So it was back to the vines in California with his wife, Brooke, and now their two young boys in tow.

Blend: 97% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Petit Verdot

Stringer Cellars now make their wines at Grand Cru Custom Crush in the heart of Sonoma County. It’s a whole family affair: Casey serves as lead winemaker, Chip oversees operations, his brothers, Andrew and Tim, help with marketing and sales and his wife, Brooke can often be found pouring tastings behind the bar. Their winemaking philosophy is simple: Use the finest grapes they can find from the best vineyard sites in California to make small lot wines you will not soon forget. Casey employs minimalist winemaking techniques, allowing the fruit and individual vineyards to shine through in each bottle.'