Missimer Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Stags Leap District 2021

Decades before the first bottle bore their name, the Missimer story began on a quiet piece of Napa Valley land and in the hearts of a family with a vision.

In 1976, Dale and Mary Sue Missimer were cycling through France’s Loire Valley when inspiration struck: a life connected to the land, to nature, to wine, and to family. Upon returning home to California, they found a quiet, rundown walnut orchard and cow pasture in what would later become the Stags Leap District. There, they planted vines, built a modest home, and watched their family grow, their lives intertwined with the land.

For one of their grandchildren, Sinead, the vineyard became something more than a backdrop for childhood play. While studying wine at Cal Poly in 2006, she met Travis Bullard, a kindred spirit who shared a love of hands-on winemaking and a life shaped by purpose rather than convenience. They married in 2008, and in 2010, moved to the family property to live and work among the vines. Today, Sinead and Travis farm the vineyard by hand while their four young sons live out the childhood that Sinead remembers so clearly. Travis also serves as winemaker at Cliff Lede, the estate right next door — literally hopping the fence to go to work, living the dream every day. Mary Sue, now in her late 90s, still visits the vineyard. Watching her great-grandsons play among the rows, she often says quietly, “This makes me so happy. It’s better than I ever imagined.”

The inaugural 2021 Missimer Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is a labor of love and legacy. For the first time, rather than selling their prized fruit, Travis and Sinead crafted a wine that speaks for the vineyard itself. Aged in new French oak, it is elegant yet powerful: layers of blackcurrant, ripe plum, and cassis unfold alongside cedar, graphite, and baking spice. A long, velvety finish carries whispers of cocoa and espresso. Supple tannins, structured balance, and 13.5% alcohol evoke Napa’s classic elegance while honoring the site’s modern vitality. With fewer than 150 cases produced, this wine is a limited, deeply personal expression of family, land, and decades of care.