Photo courtesy of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars

Founded by Warren and Barbara Winiarski in 1972, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars lived up to its site-inspired name in 1976 when, at L'Academie du Vin founder Steven Spurrier's now legendary blind tasting in Paris, Warren's cabernet sauvignon leaped to the world wine stage. On that day French wine experts, to their own astonishment, ranked the American newcomer above the famed first-growths of Bordeaux.

The international prestige of California wine was thus established. Thirty years later, in 2006, a resolution of Congress recognized the event's historic importance to the entire U.S. wine industry; and in 2007, as Warren approached retirement, a partnership between Ste Michelle Wine Estates and Marchesi Antinori proudly accepted the stewardship of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars and its legacy.

The Improvisator, a friend of the Winiarski family for 20 years, has done extensive acoustical testing in the 37,000 square feet of tunnels; they hide no secrets from him. What a stunning setting for some Cave Music, with intricate reverberations amidst magical, naturalistic beauty!

One enters through an arcade designed by world-renowned Spanish architect Javier Barba, whose creations harmonize with the land. Graceful arches merge with the rock and earth that form the knoll wherein the caves lie hidden.

"You can see the rock weathering, crumbling into soil," Warren says. "You can see the bits of root from long-gone trees. You can see the process that creates our soil. I wanted this structure to tell that story, and it does. It's beautiful. It's fantastic!"

Photo courtesy of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars

Inside, the labyrinthian tunnels are named and situated to honor Napa Valley's river, towns and highways. The focal point is the Round Room, at whose center a Foucault pendulum marks the earth's rotation beneath a glittering celestial dome, emphasizing the winemaker's sense of place in nature. Five tunnels converge like spokes of a great wheel, holding barrels of highly prized wines.

This is the scene of our twilight Winter Solstice gathering, with music radiating from the center to the audience in 3 tunnels, punctuated by wine and hors d'oeuvres at intermission in the Great Room of the caves.

Some notes regarding the Winter Solstice:

Our holiday has its roots in ancient rites of winter renewal that have been universally observed throughout the Northern Hemisphere for untold millennia. Post-harvest celebrations and rites to re-awaken the solar power at the heart of the dark are integral components of the cycle of the year.

Best known of old are Roman festivals of Saturnalia and the Calends, which give us the twelve days of Christmas, and Norse/Germanic/Celtic Yuletide, from which the tree, mistletoe, holly and wassail derive. Similar seasonal traditions of rebirth and fellowship abound in cultures on other continents, too.

At Carols In The Caves we savor this human heritage and merrily rekindle the flame of our natural life.

Photo courtesy of Charles O'Rear