One of Napa Valley’s most storied wines helped humble France in 1976 — and then set off a lawsuit over a single apostrophe. The tale of Stag’s Leap is California wine in miniature: audacious newcomers, overnight global fame, and a punctuation mark two vintners were willing to fight all the way to the state Supreme Court to keep1.
It begins with a wine that, by rights, should not have won anything at all.
Quick facts
- Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars was founded by Warren Winiarski in 1970.
- Its 1973 Cabernet — from three-year-old vines — won the red flight of the 1976 Judgment of Paris.
- Two neighbouring wineries had nearly identical names, differing only by an apostrophe.
- The California Supreme Court settled the “apostrophe war” in 1986.
The wine that beat France
Warren Winiarski was an unlikely giant-killer — a former University of Chicago lecturer who had given up the academic life for the vine. He founded Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars in 1970 in the hills east of Yountville7. Just six years later, his 1973 S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon — made from vines only three years old — was entered into Steven Spurrier’s now-legendary Judgment of Paris, and the French judges ranked it the finest red in the room, ahead of classed-growth Bordeaux many times its age1. Napa had a giant-killer, and Stag’s Leap was famous overnight5.
Two wineries, one name
The trouble was that Winiarski was not the only vintner drawn to the spot. The area takes its name from an old legend of a stag that escaped hunters with a mighty leap across the rocky palisades that loom over the valley6. In the early 1970s, two wineries had set up almost side by side with names that were, to the ear, identical: Winiarski’s Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and Carl Doumani’s Stags’ Leap Winery — differing only in where the apostrophe fell2.
Before 1976 it was a mild nuisance. After Winiarski’s Paris triumph made the name suddenly, enormously valuable, it became a war4.
The war of the apostrophe
The two men went to law over the name, in a suit and counter-suit that dragged on until 1986, when the California Supreme Court reached a wonderfully Solomonic decision: because both wineries were named after the same place, both were entitled to the name3. The court simply divided the punctuation between them:
| Winery | Founder | Apostrophe |
|---|---|---|
| Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars | Warren Winiarski | Before the “s” |
| Stags’ Leap Winery | Carl Doumani | After the “s” |
It is very possibly the only Supreme Court ruling in history to turn on the placement of an apostrophe — a grammatical treaty line drawn straight through a Napa hillside.
Peace, and an AVA
For a while the rivals even joined forces — unsuccessfully — to block the creation of an official Stags Leap District appellation, which was ratified as a sub-region of Napa Valley in 1989 (its name left deliberately apostrophe-free, to favour neither side)5. In the end the two made peace in the most fitting way imaginable: they jointly released a 1985 Cabernet Sauvignon blended from both estates and named it, with a wink, “Accord”4.
Why it matters
The whole saga captures California wine at the exact moment of its coming of age: a three-year-old vineyard toppling Bordeaux, two neighbours suing over a comma-sized mark, and a young region confident enough to make a global spectacle of it all6. From a friar’s mission vines to a courtroom fight over an apostrophe, California wine had travelled a very long way in two centuries — and, as the 1976 result announced to the world, it was only just getting started8.
Frequently asked questions
More from this day in wine history
See everything else that happened on April 19 — who was born, what was bottled, and which laws were signed.
Read more
- Who was Steven Spurrier?
- The origins of California wine
- Sonoma: the true birthplace of California wine
References
- Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars — The 1976 Judgment of Paris. www.stagsleapwinecellars.com ↩
- Napa Valley Register — Stags’ Leap Winery: one valuable apostrophe. napavalleyregister.com ↩
- The Press Democrat — Carl Doumani, who won the apostrophe war, dies at 92. www.pressdemocrat.com ↩
- Wine Spectator — Carl Doumani, former owner of Stags’ Leap Winery, dies (obituary). www.winespectator.com ↩
- Vinous — Appellation Napa Valley: Stags Leap District. v1.vinous.com ↩
- In the Mix Magazine — War of the Apostrophe. inthemix.on-premise.com ↩
- The Napa Wine Project — Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. www.napawineproject.com ↩
- Wine-Searcher — Stags Leap District wine region. www.wine-searcher.com ↩
Recommended reading
George M. Taber
The inside story of the tasting that made Stag’s Leap famous, by the only journalist who was in the room.
Thomas Pinney
The definitive history of American wine, tracing Napa’s rise from mission vines to global contender.
As an Amazon Associate, This Day in Wine History earns from qualifying purchases. Book recommendations are chosen independently.
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