External search
Google (images)
Wine Advocate
Wine Spectator
Burghound
Wine-Searcher
Vintages
2021
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
Show more
From this producer
Show all wines
All tasting notes
|
| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 90.8 pts. and median of 91 pts. in 129 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by vinopad demo on 11/18/2023: - Brick color. (258 views) | | | Tasted by vinopad demo on 11/7/2023: - Purple color. It's unbalanced with a medium finish. (261 views) | | | Tasted by ShadowIII on 10/26/2023 & rated 92 points: Pleasant surprise, fill like new, dark fruit of blackberry, soft plum, cherry, hints of vanilla, very youthful, almost no secondary character, soft tannins, long finish (314 views) | | | Tasted by Tarpon222 on 2/15/2021 & rated 91 points: Thoroughly enjoyed. Amazing color with no real pricing. Last one! It was time. (1719 views) | | | Tasted by Rcolella on 9/22/2018 & rated 91 points: Great wine. Soft tannins with cherry and vanilla notes. Will balanced Merlot. Elegant. Great drink now. (2389 views) | | | Tasted by Hamersly on 6/20/2018 & rated 93 points: Pnp at dinner, drinking just beautifully. Dark cherries dominate, with a pleasant undercurrent of vanilla but very little oak. Medium bodied and elegant, with refined tannins and a wonderfully smooth finish. Fruit is not as bold as I remember from a few years ago, but it's by no means over the hill. Every time I open a Shafer Merlot or One Point Five with 12-15 years on it, I end up saying to myself "I could very happily drink this every day". Addendum - bottle opened in Sept 2018 was similar but with bigger fruit, 93/94. (2646 views) | | | Tasted by rwstorer on 6/13/2018 & rated 93 points: - Aromas of cherry and cedar. It's balanced and has flavours of cherry with a medium/full body. Smooth texture - Really enjoyed this. Drinking beautifully right now. A classic. (2478 views) | | | Tasted by Tarpon222 on 4/15/2018 & rated 91 points: Excellent (2575 views) | | | Tasted by jroberts86 on 4/1/2018: toasted caramel nose, fruit still bright and showing well. Mostly berry and bramble. lingering soft tannins. (1742 views) | | | Tasted by Rcolella on 8/27/2017 flawed bottle: Corked. (1802 views) | | | Tasted by JCGuthrie on 7/17/2017: Got somewhat lost in a large blind cab/merlot tasting. No notes, but remember liking this quite a bit. (1770 views) | | | Tasted by rocknroller on 7/16/2017: Cabs and Merlot or Blend from Anywhere (Heirloom, St.Paul, MN): Small taste, herbal, dill, cassis, kirsch, feels past. (2309 views) | | | Tasted by JCaress on 2/5/2016 & rated 92 points: Quality merlot. Dark and rich. Enough cherry to separate it from cab. (3338 views) | | | Tasted by Millennial Drinkers on 1/10/2016 & rated 90 points: C: Ruby red with purple hues
N: Slightly perfumey with flowers like roses and lavender. Slightly herbaceous. Lots of dark berries and blueberries.
P: Moderate tannins (6.5/10) with a moderate body. Lots of dark fruits. Slight heat in the finish.
O: Still seems to need a couple more years to fully integrate.
Drink now till 2025 (3210 views) | | | Tasted by cab blends on 1/10/2016 & rated 92 points: Decanted for an hour. I think this is on a downhill trend so I would not keep cellaring.
Light perfume and cherry fruits on the nose. Medium to light medium body and red fruits on the palate. Lighter on the tannins 6.5/10. (2780 views) | | | Tasted by dpalmer77 on 12/26/2015 & rated 91 points: Waited the maximum recommended by RP when this wine first came out. My only regret is this was my last bottle. (2592 views) | | | Tasted by grapist on 2/18/2015 & rated 91 points: Dark, aromatic and flavorful (3452 views) | | | Tasted by grapist on 2/18/2015 & rated 91 points: Consistent with previous. (2236 views) | | | Tasted by iamandyc on 1/30/2015 & rated 92 points: Decanted briefly and drank over three hours. Really balanced and silky merlot. Picked up body with air but might have liked it even better early on when it was crisper and livelier. Red fruited with some oak and notes of dark chocolate. Really liking the 2005 Cali vintage 10 years later. (2295 views) | | | Tasted by vinovin on 1/3/2015 & rated 91 points: New Years 2015- mellow tannins. Beautiful dark berry and cacao on finish. So smooth (2195 views) | | | Tasted by rwstorer on 5/31/2013 & rated 91 points: - Crimsom color and aromas of cherry, oak and vanilla. It's somewhat balanced and has flavours of cherry, black currant and cedar - Similar note to previous. (4815 views) | | | Tasted by JCaress on 4/11/2013 & rated 92 points: Drinking well now. Dark berry and chocolate. Good finish, minimal tannins. Perfect with carnitas and peppers. (4125 views) | | | Tasted by sraders on 3/19/2013 & rated 91 points: Love all of Shafer's wines and this is probably my favorite Merlot. Great body and lots of depth with excellent finish. (4231 views) | | | Tasted by Halfeel on 1/18/2013 & rated 94 points: Incredibly smooth and well made Napa Valley merlot. Still drinking very well in 2013. (4425 views) | | | Tasted by QSilver on 11/11/2012 & rated 91 points: Last bottle for us from this vintage. Smoky with silky smoothness. Outstanding merlot! (4657 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| 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 2012.2005 Shafer MerlotFrom the Shafer Release Information:
Vineyards in the Stags Leap District and Yountville. Varietal Composition is 86% Merlot, 8% Cabernet, and 6% Cabernet Franc. Alcohol is 14.9%. Cooperage of 20 months in French Oak barrels of which 60% were new. Growing season was longer than usual and cooler than usual. Harvest was larger than normal.
MerlotMerlot is a dark blue–colored wine grape variety, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to be a diminutive of merle, the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the color of the grape. Its softness and "fleshiness", combined with its earlier ripening, makes Merlot a popular grape for blending with the sterner, later-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon, which tends to be higher in tannin.USAAmerican 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)Napa ValleySt. Helena |
|
