Warren Winiarski was there at the right time and the right place. The time was the early 1970s. It was the start of the California wine boom, a boom which Winiarski was instrumental in creating. The place was directly under the Stags Leap promontory, a well-known rock formation on the east side of the Silverado Trail north of the city of Napa and south of Yountville.

Winiarski’s Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, along with Carl Doumani’s Stags’ Leap Winery preceded the naming of the area that was to become known as the Stags Leap District American Viticulture Area (AVA). And names have been crucial to this area from the beginning. The two men got into a well-chronicled legal battle over the similar names of their wineries. A judge ruled that both wineries could keep the Stags Leap name -- with subtle differences (note the placement of the apostrophes). Eventually, Doumani sold his property to a corporate entity.

Winiarski went on to international prominence when his 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon won the Paris Tasting of 1976. Amazingly, the accolade came just one year after Winiarski started his winery. The award put both Winiarski and California wines on the world wine map.

But it was in 1969, that Winiarski had an epithany. After tasting Nathan Fay’s 1968 Cabernet, he knew that that particular vineyard would produce wines that could rival any in Bordeaux. Three years later, in 1972, he bought the vineyard from Fay and created his winery. It was a crucial plot of land that would be the source of some great wine over the years.

Winiarski spoke to me about how he came to buy Fay’s vineyard, about the uniqueness of the Stags Leap District (SLD), and about his own vineyard. He also responded to a column by James Laube (“The Thrill is Gone,” Wine Spectator, Aug. 31, 2006 Issue) in which the writer took 10 Napa Valley wineries to task for “underperforming.” Among the list was Winiarski’s Stag’s Leap WC.