2023 Chimney Rock Cabernet Sauvignon 40Th Anniversary Vintage Stags Leap District

Elizabeth Vianna was headed for medical school. One glass of Bordeaux sent her to Napa instead.

She was working as a clinical toxicologist in New York when she tasted a 1985 Sociando-Mallet at Christie's. Glass in hand, she heard Christian Moueix praise the enology program at UC Davis. Moueix ran Petrus for 38 years. She applied to Davis instead of medical school. She first worked Chimney Rock's vines as a harvest intern in 1999. The Terlato family made her head winemaker in 2005.

This 2023 bottling marks Chimney Rock's 40th anniversary — four decades of estate Cabernet from the Stags Leap District. The estate sits on the Silverado Trail at the southern end of the appellation. Philip Togni made its first two vintages, 1984 and 1985. Part of the vineyard was a golf course until the Terlatos pulled the last nine holes and planted Cabernet. Vianna has since stopped herbicide use across the property.

Blackcurrant and dark cherry up front, with graphite, cedar, savory herbs and a streak of loamy earth underneath. The palate is medium to full-bodied and generous: black cherry, plum, blackberry and red currant, framed by cocoa, bittersweet chocolate and warm baking spice from the oak. A leafy, savory edge keeps it fresh. Tannins are fine-grained and velvety, carrying into a long finish with a lift of mint. Ready now; critics give it until 2035–2040.

It's the Stags Leap Cab I'd open for a Saturday ribeye — or pull the cork now and watch it still be hitting its stride a decade from tonight.