Cliff Lede Vineyards

Cliff Lede grew up in Leduc, Alberta, and with his brother David helped run Leduc Construction, the company their father founded in 1947 and renamed Ledcor Construction in 1982; the brothers built it into one of the world's largest construction companies. His interest in wine began as a boy helping his mother make wine at home, and he collected Bordeaux from his late 20s. A business retreat introduced him to Napa Valley in the 1990s, and in 2002 he bought sixty acres and a winery in the Stags Leap District, renaming the estate Cliff Lede Vineyards. The property was formerly S. Anderson Vineyard: Stanley (a Pasadena dentist) and Carol Anderson bought 28 acres there in 1971, built a winery by 1979, and released their first sparkling wine in 1983. In 2003 Lede acquired 16 planted hillside acres east of the winery and named them the Poetry Vineyard. In 2004 viticulturist David Abreu began replanting the estate, and the plantings were so specific to soil type and exposure that Lede named each block after a favorite rock song or album, from "My Generation" to "Dark Side of the Moon," creating the "Rock Blocks."

• Property purchased 2002 (60 acres) in the Stags Leap District on the former S. Anderson Vineyard site; Stanley and Carol Anderson bought 28 acres there in 1971, built a winery by 1979, and made a first sparkling-wine release in 1983
• Founder Cliff Lede is from Leduc, Alberta, and helped run Leduc Construction, his father's company (founded 1947, renamed Ledcor Construction in 1982)
• Poetry Vineyard (16 hillside acres east of the winery) acquired in 2003, one year after the founding; viticulturist David Abreu began replanting the estate in 2004
• Vineyard blocks named after classic rock songs and albums ("My Generation," "Dark Side of the Moon," and others), known as the "Rock Blocks" and numbering more than 45

Jason Lede, Cliff Lede's son, first worked harvest at the winery in 2007 as a teenager and joined the company full time in 2015, spending four years in wholesale sales, two years managing hospitality operations, and three years as Director of Communications before becoming General Manager and COO. The winery's team page dates that promotion to January 2025, while its history timeline dates it to 2024. Jason holds a business degree from the University of San Francisco, an MBA from the University of Alberta, and an Advanced Wine Certificate from the International Sommelier Guild, and performs as "DJ Jason Lede" at events including BottleRock Napa Valley. Director of Winemaking Christopher Tynan joined in 2012 after David Abreu introduced him to Cliff Lede; from 2006 to 2011 he was assistant winemaker at Colgin Cellars on Pritchard Hill, working with owner Ann Colgin and winemaker Allison Tauziet. Winemaker Travis Bullard moved to Napa Valley in 2010 for a Cliff Lede internship, became a full-time lab technician, was promoted to enologist in 2012 and associate winemaker in 2013, and was named Winemaker in 2021. Eric Gallegos, a third-generation Napa Valley farmer, became Director of Vineyard Operations in 2024 after joining Pahlmeyer as Vineyard and Grower Relations Manager in 2017. The Lede family sold its 52-acre Savoy Vineyard in Anderson Valley to Donum Estate in 2023 to focus on continued investment in Napa Valley; Savoy had supplied the grapes for FEL Wines through the 2022 vintage, and the family kept the FEL name. In August 2024 it sold the Poetry Inn boutique hotel to PA Capital Management while keeping the Poetry Vineyard and its namesake wine.

• Jason Lede became General Manager and COO: January 2025 on the team page, 2024 on the history timeline, an inconsistency within the producer's own site
• Christopher Tynan, Director of Winemaking, joined in 2012 after an introduction from David Abreu; assistant winemaker at Colgin Cellars on Pritchard Hill, 2006-2011, under Ann Colgin and Allison Tauziet
• Travis Bullard joined as an intern in 2010, became lab technician, then enologist (2012) and associate winemaker (2013), and was named Winemaker in 2021; Eric Gallegos named Director of Vineyard Operations in 2024
• Savoy Vineyard (Anderson Valley, 52 acres) sold to Donum Estate in 2023, after supplying FEL Wines grapes through the 2022 vintage (the Lede family kept the FEL name); Poetry Inn boutique hotel sold to PA Capital Management in August 2024, with the Poetry Vineyard retained

The home vineyards sit in the northern corner of the Stags Leap District. The Poetry Vineyard climbs a steep west-facing hillside of shallow volcanic soils over fractured shale; David Abreu planted it to proprietary heritage Cabernet Sauvignon selections at high density, and it is farmed to very low yields. The valley-floor Rhythm Vineyard surrounds the winery on gravelly loam soils, forms the backbone of the estate's Cabernet program, and is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec, Sauvignon Blanc, and Sémillon. In 2013 the Lede family added a 20-acre vineyard in Calistoga, at the base of Diamond Mountain, planted mostly to Cabernet Sauvignon with a small amount of Sauvignon Blanc. The family also added the 87-acre High Fidelity Vineyard in Carneros, planted to Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Sémillon. The winery's own site dates that acquisition to 2019, while the Napa Wine Project and the winery's 2025 press materials date it to 2020. In 2025 the family bought a 7.5-acre vineyard from the Andelin family, bordering the eastern edge of Rhythm Vineyard, as part of an 8.6-acre property (with a private home) that sold for $5.467 million; Cliff Lede had farmed and leased that vineyard since the winery's 2002 founding. Estate holdings now total more than 160 acres across the Stags Leap District, Calistoga, and Carneros.

• Poetry Vineyard: steep west-facing hillside, shallow volcanic soils over fractured shale, planted by David Abreu to proprietary heritage Cabernet Sauvignon selections; sole source of the flagship Poetry Cabernet Sauvignon
• Rhythm Vineyard: valley-floor site surrounding the winery, gravelly loam soils; planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec, Sauvignon Blanc, and Sémillon
• Calistoga vineyard (20 acres, base of Diamond Mountain) added 2013; High Fidelity Vineyard in Carneros (87 acres) dated 2019 by the winery's own site and 2020 by the Napa Wine Project and the winery's 2025 press materials
• Andelin Vineyard (7.5 acres, contiguous to Rhythm Vineyard) purchased 2025 within an 8.6-acre, $5.467 million property, after being farmed and leased by the estate since 2002; estate totals more than 160 acres

The winery, designed by architect Howard Backen of Backen, Gillam and Kroeger, was completed in 2005 as a 25,000-square-foot winery and cave system. Grapes are hand-picked at night into twenty-five-pound bins and pass through a three-tiered sorting process: hand sorting, an optical sorter, and a final hand sort. A custom crane system delivers the berries to tank by gravity. Fermentation takes place in truncated tanks from American manufacturer Mueller, which Lede commissioned after seeing similar tanks at Château Latour in Bordeaux, to allow more skin submersion. Wines age in French oak barrels in caves built into the hillside behind the winery. A 300-kilowatt solar array installed in 2011 powers the winery, and the estate achieved Napa Green Winery certification in 2015. The rock-song block names, begun by Cliff Lede to track soil type and exposure without a clipboard, now cover more than 45 "Rock Blocks," a tradition that continues with Jason Lede. Each year the winemaking team makes a small-lot Rock Block Series "mash-up" of two or more blocks, featured in the tasting room and wine club; past bottlings include "Intergalactic Rain," "Roundabout Midnight," and "Soul Fire."

• Winery designed by architect Howard Backen (Backen, Gillam and Kroeger), completed 2005; 25,000-square-foot winery and cave system
• Three-tiered sorting (hand, optical sorter, hand) and gravity delivery to Mueller tanks modeled on tanks at Château Latour; barrel aging in hillside caves
• 300-kilowatt solar array installed 2011; Napa Green Winery certification achieved 2015
• Rock Block vineyard-naming system (more than 45 named blocks) continues under Jason Lede; annual small-lot Rock Block Series blends have included "Intergalactic Rain," "Roundabout Midnight," and "Soul Fire"

Poetry Cabernet Sauvignon, the estate's flagship, has 100-point scores for five vintages from five critics or publications: the 2013 from eRobertParker.com, the 2015 from Jeb Dunnuck, the 2018 and 2019 from The Wine Advocate (the 2019 reviewed by Lisa Perrotti-Brown), and the 2021 from both Decanter (Jonathan Cristaldi) and The Wine Independent (Lisa Perrotti-Brown). Robert Parker has called the wine "bottled perfection." The estate's Cabernet Sauvignon from the Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard in Oakville has also scored 100 points, including the 2015 from Jeb Dunnuck and the 2016. Individual bottlings are small: almost 2,000 cases of the 2021 Poetry and 467 cases of the 2021 Beckstoffer To Kalon. Total annual production is typically 18,000 to 20,000 cases, most of it Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc and Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon. With the Savoy Vineyard sold in 2023 and the Poetry Inn in 2024, the estate's holdings center on its Stags Leap District, Calistoga, and Carneros vineyards.

• Poetry Cabernet Sauvignon 100-point scores: 2013 (eRobertParker.com), 2015 (Jeb Dunnuck), 2018 and 2019 (The Wine Advocate), 2021 (Decanter and The Wine Independent)
• Robert Parker has called Poetry Cabernet Sauvignon "bottled perfection"
• Cabernet Sauvignon, Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard (Oakville) has also scored 100 points, including the 2015 (Jeb Dunnuck) and the 2016
• Total annual production is typically 18,000 to 20,000 cases; small-lot bottlings run far smaller, such as 467 cases of the 2021 Beckstoffer To Kalon against almost 2,000 cases of the 2021 Poetry

Primary sources (producer's own site, fetched as raw page text via curl and tag-stripping, not a summarizing tool): https://cliffledevineyards.com, .../about/story/, .../about/team/, .../about/vineyards/, .../about/winery/, .../about/our-values/, .../about/napa-green/, .../visit/, .../wines/, .../accolades/, .../poetry/, .../about/philanthropy/. Secondary sources (also fetched as raw page text): The Napa Wine Project (accessed 2026-09-09), San Francisco Chronicle (published/updated June 12, 2023, on the Donum Estate purchase of Savoy Vineyard), Wine Industry Advisor (published August 21, 2024, on the Poetry Inn sale), and the Napa Valley Register (on the 2025 Andelin Vineyard purchase and Napa County property records). Last verified 2026-10-12. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, or where the producer's own pages disagree with each other, the article notes both dates rather than silently picking one; see conflicts.json for the Jason Lede promotion date, the Carneros/High Fidelity Vineyard acquisition year, and the Rhythm Vineyard naming discrepancy with an older secondary source.