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 Vintage1999 Label 1 of 269 
TypeRed
ProducerShafer (web)
VarietyCabernet Sauvignon
DesignationHillside Select
Vineyardn/a
CountryUSA
RegionCalifornia
SubRegionNapa Valley
AppellationStags Leap District
UPC Code(s)013528400023

Drinking Windows and Values
Drinking window: Drink between 2007 and 2024 (based on 67 user opinions)
Wine Market Journal quarterly auction price: See Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select on the Wine Market Journal.

Community Tasting History

Community Tasting Notes (average 94.4 pts. and median of 95 pts. in 231 notes) - hiding notes with no text

 Tasted by VINVM on 2/25/2024 & rated 94 points: prime (393 views)
 Tasted by peternelson on 1/11/2024 & rated 92 points: This was nearly opaque, dark brooding, and still a baby; Pretty powerful, still a good dose of oak showing, slightly sweet compared to the Heitz Martha's, well put together for sure but somewhat over-extracted and oaky for my taste. Went well with the steak. Musso & Franks Eric B-day. (571 views)
 Tasted by hfindlay on 4/10/2023: The cork failed but the wine passed with flying colors. Dark purple, viscous, full bodied cab with lovely aromas of tobacco and vanilla, big cherry, blackberry, and cassis flavors, decadent long finish. A friend baked savory chocolate sourdough bread, which we ate with cheese and sipped this wine. Divine (1551 views)
 Tasted by melvinyeowq on 3/24/2023 & rated 80 points: Beat the '91 Heitz: Heavily extracted with dark purple fruit, unintegrated oak with a huge dose of vanilla on the nose. Absolutely zero finesse in this wine. 8/8. (1906 views)
 Tasted by Wineshington on 1/8/2023 & rated 91 points: Decanted but did not need much time to open. Ready to drink, has reached a plateau. (1712 views)
 Tasted by madmaxcmd on 11/12/2022 & rated 93 points: Fantastic bottle. Drank with two friends who are new to this wine. Opened, poured and enjoyed over 3 hours. Drink now. (1538 views)
 Tasted by lozatron on 8/13/2022: Wine and BBQ Dinner (At home in leafy West London): Big wine - ready to go I think but lots of life ahead of it. Of all the wines we drank last night - this is the one I wish I'd been able to concentrate more on - it's always a little difficult to balance hosting with contemplative wine appreciation...but as far as I can recall - it has the classic cali cab cigar box / pencil lead nose, tons of presence but not overbearing, really good stuff. (2248 views)
 Tasted by GA on 7/24/2022: 7/22- finish unresolved but intergrated with fruit - 10year lay down. 94pts. (1581 views)
 Tasted by ZionWino on 7/9/2022 & rated 94 points: We decanted this wine and drank over 2-3 hours. Blue fruits, mocha, and vanilla initially; developing earthy and herbal notes with more time. Still some tannin left, and medium acidity. Excellent weight and balance with a long finish. An opulent, delicious Napa cabernet. I suspect this will continue to hold for 2-3 more years. (1471 views)
 Tasted by AP MD on 12/12/2021 & rated 97 points: Drank this at Wine Loft in Pikesville alongside some other fantastic cabs including a 2007 Quilceda Creek and a 2008 Dunn Vineyards. All were drinking marvelously. The Shafer in my mind came in 2nd to the Quilceda among the cabs. Color was dark without any bricking. The nose was wonderful with leather and herbs. Dark fruit and berries and a hint of chocolate on the palate. We drank over 2 hours, so more air might have been even better. There was still plenty of structure, so 5 more years wouldn't hurt, and more air time wouldn't have hurt but with 6 of us tasting, the wines didn't last that long (and we didn't have that much time). WA gave this a 93+. We all agreed that 97-98 was probably a better range. This is truly a superb wine. (2524 views)
 Tasted by AlexHop on 9/25/2021 & rated 97 points: Gorgeous perfect balance, warm spices and complex long finish. (2392 views)
 Tasted by Strile on 3/27/2021 & rated 98 points: Incredible. Worth the wait. (2461 views)
 Tasted by jdrhyne on 10/15/2020 & rated 96 points: Definitely changed after a 3 hour decant and later drinking into the night. Still had alcohol and tightness after initial decant. Another hour outside in the decanter, the nose became really expressive with dark fruit, blueberries, earthier nose with mint and herbal notes that leads to notes of licorice, leather, graphite with a superb finish. Could easily have another 5 years of life on it. 96+ (2908 views)
 Tasted by ajrez on 10/15/2020 & rated 96 points: First couple hours open had some alcohol and awkwardness on it. After that it became earthy, super deep and complex. Notes of mature fruits, mulberry, leather, graphite. After 2+ hours open it really shows it’s true colors. This has 5+ years left in it at a minimum. Outstanding. 96+ (2684 views)
 Tasted by rgawlowski on 9/22/2020 & rated 96 points: What a beautiful wine; dark fruit, smooth tannins, endless palate; excellent balance. (2339 views)
 Tasted by 818wines on 8/9/2020 & rated 94 points: An hour in the decanter definitely helped. Beautiful once it opened up. (2150 views)
 Tasted by RobbieD68 on 2/8/2020 & rated 95 points: Oh dear me. Didn't even need decanting. Lots of raspberry and cherry right up front, tar and some licorice on the finish. A little tanning but not too much. Probably opened it at the perfect time. (2562 views)
 Tasted by europat55 on 1/19/2020 & rated 93 points: Nose: 92 Palate: 92-93 (2234 views)
 Tasted by Frank Schneider on 1/1/2020 & rated 95 points: Not as stellar as my last bottle, but a huge wine with rich and roundness. Herbal touch and a loong finish. (2143 views)
 Tasted by Eric on 12/20/2019: Eastside Tasting Group End of Year Extravaganza (Newcastle, WA): Lovely. Liqueur of Cabernet. But just way, way too much alcohol and oomph, especially following incredible flights of Bordeaux. (3215 views)
 Tasted by Choop on 11/27/2019 & rated 95 points: very good (2059 views)
 Tasted by mattiasjansson on 10/22/2019 & rated 93 points: Shafer Hillside Select in Boston - Take II (Boston): This was an odd one. When I smelled the bottle I got strong notes of TCA and wrote it off as corked. Once poured, however, there was no trace of it. Medium-to-big fruit. Still young. (1937 views)
 Tasted by Fookonson65 on 9/7/2019 & rated 98 points: Pulled out for anniversary. Drinking beautifully! Still had nice deep color, aroma was fantastic. Perfectly balanced, subtle flavor all the way around. Dark cherry, chocolate, blackberry, licorice... excellent. Long finish, and nose/finish stayed strong over several hours. One of all-time favorites. Been saving this since release. Wish I would not have sold the other 6 that I had purchased at the time. (1623 views)
 Tasted by mdvillaverde on 6/23/2019 & rated 96 points: Last of 3 recently acquired bottles. Similar notes to my early June and May 2019 tastings. I let it breathe for 1.5 hrs then drank over Drank over 3 hrs. Enjoyed most of bottle on day 1. If you're holding I'd drink sooner rather than later. (1922 views)
 Tasted by LiteItOnFire on 6/7/2019 & rated 93 points: PnP what a great showing for 1999- tastes like a decade younger. Loved it- of the aged Napa wines we drank this was my favorite (some preferred the 2001 Chateau Montelena) (2821 views)
 Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine...

Professional 'Channels'
By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, Vintage Retrospective: The 1999 Napa Valley Cabernets (May 2019) (5/1/2019)
(Shafer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select Napa Valley 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 (11/7/2003)
(Shafer, Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Red) 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.
By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, May/June 2002, IWC Issue #102
(Shafer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select Stags Leap District) Subscribe to see review text.
By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, May/June 2001, IWC Issue #96
(Shafer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select Stags Leap District) Subscribe to see review text.
By Richard Jennings
RJonWine.com (4/10/2004)
(Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select) Lovely, big, berry nose; tasty berry, vanilla, caramel palate with sweet tannins; medium finish  89 points
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of Vinous and JancisRobinson.com and RJonWine.com. (manage subscription channels)

CellarTracker Wiki Articles (login to edit | view all articles)

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 Sauvignon

Cabernet 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 Sauvignon

USA

American 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.

California

2021 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

 
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