Stag's Leap Sold to Antinori, Ste Michelle

Filed in archive California Wines , Wine News on July 31, 2007

Although the sale has not been finalized, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, one of the world's most highly regarded winery estates, is being acquired by the joint venture partnership of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates of Washington State and Marchese Piero Antinori of Italy. The terms have been agreed to and signed by all involved parties.
From Decanter:

The purchase includes the Stag's Leap Wine Cellars brand, winemaking facility and the SLV and Fay estate vineyards, from which two of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars' three most admired wines come. The third is the flagship Cask 23 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Winiarski, his wife, Barbara, and their family will retain the Arcadia Vineyard, also in Napa Valley, and will provide grapes from Arcadia to the Antinori-Ste Michelle partnership. Winiarski said he will remain as an adviser to the new owners for three years.

'I'll need to teach them about the terroir that I learned over 40 years,' he said. 'I'll be here (at the winery) part-time. It's not like I'm turning out lights.'

Winiarski, 79, said it was time for him and his wife, Barbara, to retire, and that other family members weren't in positions to take over the business.

Stag's Leap Vineyards (now known as S.L.V.) was planted with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in 1970, and the winery was built near the vineyard in 1972. Four years later, Winiarski's 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon stunned the wine world at the now-famous (some might say infamous) 1976 Paris Tasting when it outranked four famed Bordeaux wines (including two First Growths).