Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars’ newly released 2007 estate cabs at a tasting and lunch at the spectacular Napa winery last week. This was the first vintage since legendary founder Warren Winiarski  sold the property to a partnership of Washington State’s Chateau Ste-Michelle and Italy’s Antinori family, so it was with much curiosity that I approached the release. Would there be a subtle change of direction? Or, sacrilege, a radical new approach?

But there was no cause for concern; winemaker Nicki Pruss has done nothing to disconcert Stag’s Leap’s many fans as the three cuvées – Fay, S.L.V. and Cask 23 – emerged from their bottles with their distinct personalities intact.

The tasting also confirmed my long-held preference for the leaner, more structured S.L.V. with its greater minerality and, for the moment, sharper elbows. It’s what Winiarski would call a “fire” wine.

The impression that it will also be long-lived was reinforced at the subsequent lunch when we tasted a 1997 with a selection of cheeses including a subtly nutty Compte de Savoir. It was still young and fresh — the wine, not the cheese — showing lively red-berry fruits along with hints of licorice and fennel. At 12 years of age it was only just coming into its own, and I was happy to find that the 2007 shows every indication of developing into a similarly venerable wine.