External search
Google (images)
Wine Advocate
Wine Spectator
Burghound
Wine-Searcher
Vintages
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
Show more
From this producer
Show all wines
All tasting notes
|
| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 93.5 pts. and median of 93 pts. in 68 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by fclarity on 10/16/2021 & rated 93 points: Tasted blind, this wine had a deep purple center with a touch of red at the rims. It looked like a 5-10 year old wine! The medium intensity nose generated blackberry, wax, mineral, menthol, and some leesy notes.
In the mouth, this wine was ripe and rich and yet light on its feet. It displayed rounded tannin, firm acidity, and excellent length. It was ripe enough that it had a "jammy" texture but it did not come off as heavy.
This bottle still seemed quite young and would have showed exciting potential. However, the leesy note in the nose was troubling as this suggested a wine-making flaw that will probably not dissipate. Thus, I don't see upside here based on just this one bottle. (1810 views) | | | Tasted by Bordeaux_Jon on 1/20/2020 & rated 91 points: Bottle and cork seemed in quite good condition. However, this wine seemed tired and lacking fruit. Dried red fruit, cigar, pepper and beans. I was not a fan of the vegetal element and pyrazines as Shafer is usually a fruit and oak driven cab. I had a much better bottle about 8 years ago. This wine is past peak and I advise drinking up. It came 8 of 12 in a lineup of comparable Napa Cabernet based wines. (2632 views) | | | Tasted by mattiasjansson on 10/22/2019 & rated 96 points: Shafer Hillside Select in Boston - Take II (Boston): Soft tannins and medium fruit. Mature. Beautifully balanced with excellent finish. Probably at peak now. (2891 views) | | | Tasted by Tony Ling on 5/13/2019 & rated 92 points: Opened 2-3 hours prior to serving into Galateo Burgundy glass (“No” day): Medium ruby with very slightly bricking rims.
Pronounced green bell peppery notes with darker red and black fruits. Delicate white spices.
Nicely acidic and mineral. A little woody that seems a little “sweet” on the finish.
92 points. (3015 views) | | | Tasted by Burgundy Al on 2/9/2019 flawed bottle: Another Saturday at Chevalier...Mostly Blind Cabernet (Chevalier Fine Wines - Chicago IL): Corked. (3806 views) | | | Tasted by fclarity on 2/3/2019 & rated 93 points: Tasted blind, this wine had a deep red/purple center with red rims. The medium+ intensity nose put forth blackberries, cherries, soil, and anise.
I do not know how long this wine was open but it did not seem to change much during the tasting. It was rich and ripe with mild taninns, solid acidity, and good length.
While not particularly complex, this was a well made wine. The color argues that more complexity might be revealed with additional age. However, based on just this one data point, I would not be inclined to bet on it. (2128 views) | | | Tasted by Ruby99 on 11/24/2018 & rated 93 points: Slightly vegetal nose, forest floor and tobacco
A nice blast of black raspberry with a gamey note at the end.
A little disappointing. Better when young (1381 views) | | | Tasted by floridawinedrkr on 9/23/2018 & rated 95 points: Wow. Drank this at Capital Grille Naples. What a great wine. very soft and smooth. Loads of blueberries and black berries with out being sweet in any way. Spectacular! (1667 views) | | | Tasted by jsmorris707 on 8/25/2018 & rated 98 points: Similar to prior notes after an hour decant, outstanding & ready to drink. Classic, old style CA cab! (1414 views) | | | Tasted by jsmorris707 on 5/27/2018 & rated 98 points: Similar to prior note after decanting for an hour then back in the bottle to SO for a few more; delicious, drink or hold (1749 views) | | | Tasted by jsmorris707 on 10/16/2017 & rated 98 points: From memory; 1/2 hr decant; still dark ruby with no brick, dark cherry with some leather & a touch of tobacco, soft/mod. tannins, long finish; outstanding & one of the wines of the night of a very upscale tasting; drink or hold, loved it!! (2284 views) | | | Tasted by englishman's claret on 3/4/2017 & rated 93 points: An interesting wine; cassis, gravel, a lick of mint, oak. Just a touch vegetal. Certainly the classic Californian phenotype pre-1998 or so. However, not quite the profundity you might expect from Hillside Select from a good vintage. A bit of a let-down; I'm not sure if there are better bottles out there or if this is just sliding down the slope. This particular bottle would have been better 5 years ago. (3393 views) | | | Tasted by RockinCabs on 3/3/2017 & rated 94 points: Nose: plum, sweet black cherry, ginger snap, baking spice and fig. Also shows some stewed or fall leaves and earth notes at times. Plalate: Dense and ripe but well balanced with blackberry, cherry, toasted pecan, ginger and molasses notes. Fudge at times. The spice/sweet is well balanced with acidity and a smooth palate feel. Finish: good long finish that grows quite green with pepper and a weedy note that detracts from the ripe berry fruit.
This balanced out in the decanter over 5 hours and showed best late in the night 94+/-, i recommend drinking in the next 2-4 years. Holding well. (2914 views) | | | Tasted by Loren Sonkin on 1/22/2017 & rated 94 points: Shafer Hillside (12 & 91), Guigal La Turque, Bedrock, Fonseca ++ (Our Home): Chris purchased this on release on cellared it over the years in various places. The bottle was opened a hour or so ahead of time and allowed to breathe. The cork did break on opening and came out in two pieces. Purple in color. The nose is stinky. It does blow off mostly after an hour or so. Barnyard followed by cassis, dried fruits, plumes, spice and dust. On the palate, this gets better all night. It starts of old and tired and while perhaps past prime, not that much. Nice complex layers of earth, fruit with slight wispy tannins. Nice finish. Very pretty more elegant wine and a real treat. (3326 views) | | | Tasted by mdefreitas on 12/20/2016 & rated 94 points: 1991 California Cabernet Retrospective @ The Milling Room (New York City): The wine of the night. Loads of rich, lush, youthful, plummy fruit. A hint of smoke and vanilla. The tannins were just about right - evident, but fine grained and smooth. (2903 views) | | | Tasted by RyanJames on 9/12/2015 & rated 93 points: On the downhill, but undeniable greatness. super-second growth meets CA. (3505 views) | | | Tasted by philweird on 5/22/2015 & rated 92 points: I had been warned that there was not much fruit left in this vintage, an opportunity emerged last night to share with it with a friend and was pleaseantly surprised. The wine was accessible upon opening and evolved very slowly over the next hour and a half that it was consumed. I found the fruit well integrated into a great nose and wonder if a long decant would have hurt the experience. This is the second of older California's that I have tasted in recent months and have to say, that they seem to be holding up really well over time. (2871 views) | | | Tasted by floridawinedrkr on 3/24/2015 & rated 92 points: Picked up 3 more bottles after the last one was perhaps one of the best wines I have had and so far 2 of the 3 have not lived up to the first one. These 2 had much softer corks that broke apart as we tried to remove them as the other one we drank earlier in the month had an extremely solid cork. These 2 didn't quite have the explosive Blueberry Pie A la mode nose as the other one I reviewed. These 2 had a much older nose, a little dusk, funk, still some blueberry, but much more like an old bordeaux . This had much less power behind it and much thinner. It was still good it just wasn't spectacular or very memorable. We did decant and there was a lot of sediment. We were disappointed. (3351 views) | | | Tasted by GTFreek on 3/21/2015: Gorgeous, Bordeaux style, yet fading. Probably had more power a few years ago. Still very, very good, structure excellent with acidity and balance. (2872 views) | | | Tasted by ttriant on 3/14/2015 & rated 94 points: Overall excellent, sweet tannins. Drink now to 2020. (2953 views) | | | Tasted by floridawinedrkr on 3/7/2015 & rated 98 points: This was stored perfect and the cork was as firm as any 2010 wine you would open. I was shocked. Nose literally smelled like Blueberry pie. Smooth and still powerful. Huge flavor of blueberry pie, with some spices, a hint of cedar, and a touch of coffee. It did have a touch of musty funk that blew off within a couple minutes.
This was popped and poured and was the WOTN!!! I wish I had more (2210 views) | | | Tasted by 1961Vintage on 12/30/2014 & rated 95 points: Killer cab. Incredible in every way. Enjoy, but would think about popping a few with the new year. (1714 views) | | | Tasted by jsebiri on 12/20/2014: crumbled cork , nice cab , missing at least one dimension , nice , but probably a few years late (1598 views) | | | Tasted by Naplesgolfer on 12/19/2014 & rated 94 points: Drank out of 6L. Decanted for 3 hrs. This is at it's peak right now. Not your typical Hillside select. A little lighter and very balanced. Fruit and the acid and tannin very resolved. Older Bordeaux-esque. (1603 views) | | | Tasted by JoeDwine on 11/7/2014 & rated 94 points: Pop and Pour....Cork was brutally dry and crumbly..but already beautiful mature cab truffle, herbs, blackberry, cigar Box, wintergreen.
Hour 2- Graphite, Mint a little tightening
Hour 3- Cherries
hour 4-a little cream, just beautiful depth... cigar box, currants and dried pommegrante, eucalyptus... no real greeness Dark Choclate undertones
Crimson to black no bricking...Very Bordeuex like in depth drinking Beautifully tannins resolved but proabably will Plateau at this level for the next 8-10 years. (457 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, Vintage Retrospective: 1991 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon (Jul 2018) (7/18/2018)
(Shafer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select Napa Valley Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By William Kelley
Decanter, Shafer Hillside Select Vertical (6/30/2017)
(Shafer, Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, Stags Leap District, California, USA, Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, Vertical Tasting of Shafer’s Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select (Jul 2016) (7/1/2016)
(Shafer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select Napa Valley) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (6/2/2003)
(Shafer, Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Red) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of Vinous and Decanter and JancisRobinson.com. (manage subscription channels) |
| Shafer Producer website
John Shafer and his family founded Shafer Vineyards, located in the Stags Leap District of the Napa Valley, in 1979. From the Shafers' first wine, a 1978 Cabernet Sauvignon,
their wines have won much acclaim. Today, the Shafers farm 200 acres of vineyard in the Stags Leap District, Carneros and Oak Knoll regions. Their flagship wine, Hillside Select,
is produced from selected blocks of the family's hillside vineyards and is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. They also produce Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay, Merlot, One Point Five
(Cabernet Sauvignon) and Relentless (a Syrah/Petite Sirah blend), which was named #1 wine of the year by Wine Spectator's "Top 100" of 2012.Cabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon is probably the most famous red wine grape variety on Earth. It is rivaled in this regard only by its Bordeaux stablemate Merlot, and its opposite number in Burgundy, Pinot Noir. From its origins in Bordeaux, Cabernet has successfully spread to almost every winegrowing country in the world. It is now the key grape variety in many first-rate New World wine regions, most notably Napa Valley, Coonawarra and Maipo Valley. Wherever they come from, Cabernet Sauvignon wines always seem to demonstrate a handful of common character traits: deep color, good tannin structure, moderate acidity and aromas of blackcurrant, tomato leaf, dark spices and cedarwood.
Used as frequently in blends as in varietal wines, Cabernet Sauvignon has a large number of common blending partners. Apart from the obvious Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the most prevalent of these are Malbec, Petit Verdot and Carmenere (the ingredients of a classic Bordeaux Blend), Shiraz (in Australia's favorite blend) and in Spain and South America, a Cabernet – Tempranillo blend is now commonplace. Even the bold Tannat-based wines of Madiran are now generally softened with Cabernet SauvignonUSAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Napa Valley Napa Valley Wineries and Wine (Napa Valley Vintners)Stags Leap District Stags Leap District |
|
