I may open hundreds of bottles of wine a year, but faced with a 1979 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, I was nervous. Very nervous.

How did I come to be in possession of such a wine — a wine with a famous provenance having beat French Bordeaux in 1976? On a late winter midweek day, not long after I turned 21 in the 1980s, my fiancé Ken and I took a drizzly drive through shiny green hills from Palo Alto to Napa for a day of wine tasting with no particular wineries in mind and no appointments. Unlike today in most of Napa where tastings cost $50 and up, and require advance reservations, back then most tastings were more causal, free or only $5 ($15 in 2026 dollars); you could just show up and belly up to the bar. We were college students with little money to spend on wine or really anything else, so going wine tasting was a cheap date especially if you brought your own picnic!

Ken and I had been to Napa previously with UC Berkeley friends who knew their way around wine much better than we did. While I grew up playing in my grandfather’s wine cellar, my family didn’t have a culture of wine drinking—although we were serious about food.

A day of tasting in Napa didn’t seem too complicated: drive along the paper map of the wine route, and see what was open.

During our visits, the wineries were so gracious about teaching us how to taste—to pay attention to color, aromas, and the all important palate. With their help, we began an education about what we liked and didn’t like.

We both fell in love with the aromatics of Riesling and Gewurtzraminer. We learned about the role of residual sugar— and that we preferred our whites on the drier side. We already knew we loved zinfandel but to taste it consciously at a winery was different. I was working at Peet’s Coffee at the time, having been trained by Alfred Peet himself, and I already had a pretty developed palate, but wine has a different vocabulary than coffee. Still, paying attention to the experience — smells, textures, tastes— was key.

At Louis M Martini, we learned we loved herbal, mellow merlot, and we had our first racy, spicy Barbera—taking bottles of each home with us. We were trying to keep to a budget, but we did want to take a special wine to cellar at my grandfather’s. And what wine did we choose to splurge on?

A 1979 Cabernet Sauvignon from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars.

As I recall, the bottle cost us about $20 which with inflation equates to about $60-65 in 2026 dollars— a lot for two college students! They told us what made this wine special — that in 1976, the 1973 Stag’s Leap Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon had outcompeted French wines —and California wines too–at a blind tasting in Paris. (Little did I know that a year or so later I would be working at Ridge— another winery that did well in the Judgement of Paris!) In May of 1976, Steven Spurrier invited some of the top wine experts in France to taste through some of the best red wines of Bordeaux and California at the InterContinental Hotel in Paris. Warren Winiarski’s Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon won, and an article published in Time magazine by George Taber brought  national and then international attention to the competition and to the competitors.

I’m not sure how much of the Stag’s Leap history they shared at the time, but today I know that Napa Valley winemaker Warren Winiarski (October 22, 1928 – June 7, 2024) made the winning Cabernet Sauvignon — and my 1979 also. So iconic is this wine that Smithsonian magazine included this bottle as one of the “101 Objects That Made America” along with Neil Armstrong’s space suit, Abraham Lincoln’s top hat, Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, and Lewis and Clark’s compass.

We simply wanted something we could drink on our 20th anniversary, and they assured us the wine would last. The marriage did not last 20 years, and so the wine was nestled in my grandfather’s cellar in Ventura near where I lived while Ken lived in Santa Cruz. There just never seemed to be a time to drink it together — and so, over 10 years ago, he told me to just open it and enjoy it.

Every time I looked at the bottle, it felt like a lot was riding on it, and I kept putting off opening it.

There’s the Judgement of Paris, the judgement of marriage, and the judgement of the care of the wine.  I wanted to open it in 2016 on the 40th anniversary of The Judgement of Paris, and write about it along with other wines from that event, but I didn’t have any of the wines except the 1979, and Sue and I had plenty of samples to write about, plus all the myriad factors of our lives. So I put opening it up off. So many judgements.

Wine is bottled time. In 1979, the year these grapes came to life, I was in high school, editing the high school newspaper, with my own TV show, and in student government. I had my first boyfriend. I did a lot of backpacking and hiking. When I graduated high school, I taught mountaineering in Colorado.

So there’s the memories of my time on earth, of that time on earth, what events shaped me along with the life of the vines and the grapes— the story of the vineyard, the story of the harvest— what all the vines and the grapes went through to give them character just as various events shaped mine. Droughts, floods, fires. Paul Wagner tells me 1979 was a tough year, following the very ripe 1978. He told me that “the wine should still be in fine shape, thanks to Warren’s consistent approach of making elegant and balanced wines. It won’t have the big fruit of more recent vintages, but should be delicious with classic cab pairings like beef or a nice cheese after dinner.”

What do you remember about 1979? What do I remember? What does the wine remember?

When you drink an older vintage, it evokes reflection on the life you’ve led, and the life of the bottle. I shepherded that wine through many years, many moves, many changes — which I could do because I could store this bottle in my grandfather’s cellar, and trust it would be safe.

I always thought I would move into my grandfather’s house, which is what he wished, and open the wine there.  But it didn’t work out that way. After my grandparents, and then my mom died, the wine came to live with me down the hill by the beach where the weather is mild, and my house is below grade built into a barranca moderating temperatures much like a wine cellar: it’s never too hot or too cold under that staircase.

So this bottle of wine carries that also— the grief of losing the house my grandfather designed and built by his hand, the grief of a “failed” marriage where we never shared this bottle, the grief of deciding when to drink the wine waiting for the perfect moment… and wondering if I had waited too long, wondering if I had wasted the wine. Wondering what other opportunities I had wasted.

Well, is there ever a perfect moment to open a special bottle of wine? Not always. And it’s not always clear. That’s why in 1999 Wall Street Journal columnists Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher created “Open That Bottle Night” for the final Saturday in February  — to encourage us to dig into the cellar and stop waiting for the right moment in time.

Because now is the right time. Now.

So on a recent weekday night, Sue came over and we did what we do: we opened that bottle along with a 2020 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars “The Investor” Red Blend and a 2022 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars “Aveta” Sauvignon Blanc. We started with tasting the Sauv Blanc, followed by the red blend.

The bottle looked good: the wine had not evaporated down past the shoulder. I know it has been on its side and in a cool place, but recognizing the fragility of a cork from 1979, I decided to use my Coravin to gently get the wine out of the bottle and into our glasses.

As I said, I was unusually nervous.

The Coravin made a mess, not sure why, wasting some of the wine that was garnet in color on the table and in the glass. I stuck my nose in the Riedel Bordeaux wine glass. Imagine my relief to realize that it smelled good— that it smelled like something I wanted to drink. Now. No more waiting!

So what bottle are you waiting to open? Do it! Make tonight “Open The Bottle Night”!

Check out these previous postings about “Open The Bottle Night”:

• 2024 Open That Bottle Night with 2009 Clos des Amis Pinot Noir Pet nat
• 2023 Open That Bottle Night: 2009 Ojai Vineyard Syrah campout at the beach

Stags Leap Cellars Wines

• 2022 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars “Aveta” Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley
• 2020 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars “The Investor” Red Blend, Napa Valley
• 1979 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars “Stag’s Leap Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

Menu

• Appetizers: grilled bacon wrapped blue cheese stuffed dates, grilled bacon wrapped St Pepper’s goat cheese stuffed dates, sausage stuffed mushrooms, truffle Spanish cheese, aged Red Leicester, aged Spanish Manteca, blue cheese, Kalamata olives, smoked deviled eggs,  baguette
• Ceasar Salad with anchovies
• Baked on the grill: Yukon gold and sweet potatoes
• Steak Diane with mushrooms
• On a subsequent night, enjoyed both red wines with meatloaf made of Kobe, Wagyu, and pork Italian Sausage.

2022 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars “Aveta” Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley

ABV: 13.5%
SRP: $30 for current vintage on the Stag’s Leap website; $46 at grocery store
Grapes: Sauvignon Blanc
purchased on sale 

Appearance:  Yellow, lemon yellow, pale yellow, quite clear, platinum rim

Aroma: Gooseberry, clearly a Sauvignon Blanc, lemon lime, lemon grass, herbal qualities, thyme, oregano, rose geranium , tarragon, wet earth,

Palate: Tart lemon, oxalis, rose geranium, slick mouthfeel

Pairing: Great with the goat cheese on sourdough which is such a classic pairing, very good with the smoked deviled eggs, so nice with the goat cheese stuffed dates. The wine is very refreshing on the palate after the rich sweet date, the wine was even surprisingly nice with the truffle cheese. The wine actually went very well with all of the cheeses on our cheese plate making it an excellent choice for a greater wine.

2020 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars “The Investor” Red Blend, Napa Valley

ABV: 14.6%
SRP: $70
Grapes: Merlot, Petite Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec
purchased on sale at the grocery store 

Appearance:  Deep, dar, plum, ruby rim, cloudy, dense,

Aroma: Church spices, cherry tobacco, cedar, frankincense, very inviting nose, plum, herbal, eucalyptus, dry chaparral,

Palate: Juicy, cherry, cherry tobacco, leather, sage, chaparral, dry oak woodland, structured tannins, dry, tobacco,

Pairing: The wine highlights the sweetness of the dates and loves the salty blue in the dish, very nice with the sausage stuffed mushrooms loving the richness of the bite, very nice with all of the cheeses on the plate, but best with the red leistershire, the flavorful sauce in the Steak Diane works very nicely with the wine, definitely a beautiful pairing. the wine showcases the food beautifully.

1979 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars “Stag’s Leap Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

ABV: 13.0%
SRP: $250 for current vintage
Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon
purchased at the winery for approximately $20 (about $65 in 2026 dollars)

To open this wine now is to drink it now

Appearance:  Dense, very dense, garnet, orangish rim

Aroma: Still there! Cherry tobacco, mint, chaparral, oak woodland, eucalyptus, toast,

Palate: Tannins, bright acidity, fresh plum, dusty, cherry tobacco, smooth sipper, wistful, still very drinkable, still very enjoyable, lots of character, it is impressive that at this age it has hung in there so well and is such an enjoyable wine. This wine is not pruney, or past in any way, however it will not hold its structure after opened for very long.

Pairing: Went nicely with all of the cheeses on the cheese plate loving the sharpness of the aged cheese, also very good with the stuffed mushrooms, the wine loves the fennel in the sausage and the richness of the bite, great with the stuffed date loving the sweet date savory cheese and bacon, what a great pairing, Baked potatoes on the grill have such a sweet caramelization that goes oh so well with the wine, the party sweet richness is a perfect pairing.