On February 7, 2024, we had the opportunity to meet and interview Ludovic Dervin. Ludo is the General Manager & Senior Winemaker at Stags’ Leap Winery. We covered seven of the winery’s current-release wines. Check out what we learned about Ludo.
Before we get to the wines, I thought I would share some tidbits with regards to Ludo and Stags’ Leap Winery.
- Ludo grew up near Champagne, France.
- He went to 1 of the 5 wine schools in France. He earned his viticulture and winemaking degree at the University in Reims. An interesting nugget is you need a degree to make wine is France.
- He worked 3 years at Piper Sonoma
- He then worked as an Enologist at Hartford Court with Dan Goldfield, Bob Cabral & Mike Sullivan.
- He also produced the 1st two vintages of Verité while working within Jackson’s luxury portfolio.
- He was an associate winemaker at Gary Farrell for 2 years.
- He was the head winemaker at Mumm Napa for 17 years.
- He started at Stags’ Leap Winery with the 2022 harvest. He worked with the former winemaker Christophe Paubert before taking over.
- There are 240 acres on the Estate. 65acres are planted. 80 are plant able.
- 2023 vintage was a logistical nightmare.
Below is a summary of the new-release Stags’ Leap Winery wines that we covered with Ludo. The links below are to our full reviews. If you are interested in ordering and trying these wines, you will find many of these wines via your favorite fine wine shop or on top quality wines lists. You can also purchase these wines on the Stags’ Leap Winery website.
- Stags Leap Winery 2020 Merlot “Napa Valley” $40 (KWGTP 90)
- Stags Leap Winery 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon “Napa Valley” $65 (KWGTP 92.5)
- Stags Leap Winery 2021 Red Blend “The Investor” (Napa Valley) $70 (KWGTP 93)
- Stags Leap Winery 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon “The Leap” (Stags Leap District) $120 (KWGTP 95)
- Stags Leap Winery 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon “Limited Edition” (Napa Valley) $120 (KWGTP 93.5)
- Stags Leap Winery 2020 Petite Sirah “Napa Valley” $50 (KWGTP 93)
- Stags’ Leap Winery 2020 Red Blend “Ne Cade Malis” (Stags Leap District) $160 (KWGTP 96)
You can find reviews of past and future Stags’ Leap Winery wines that we cover on the KWG Stags’ Leap Winery page on our website. We hope you enjoy these terrific wines as much as we did. Cheers! – Ken