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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 93.2 pts. and median of 94 pts. in 147 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by llindahl on 7/31/2021 & rated 93 points: Still a powerful wine with loads of dark fruit. Very well integrated tannins and acidity to keep it fresh. Great wine (2697 views) | | | Tasted by jlgnml on 1/3/2021 & rated 94 points: Great spot at 22. Deep color, a bit must initially but after a 45 min decant, lots of fruit, sweet CA cab flavor, long finish. Drink (2965 views) | | | Tasted by mattiasjansson on 10/22/2019 & rated 94 points: Shafer Hillside Select in Boston - Take II (Boston): Surprisingly fruit-forward. Fresh with hints of ground black pepper. Medium tannins. (4206 views) | | | Tasted by SMHalps on 10/11/2019 & rated 94 points: Opened, but not decanted, at a NYC Steakhouse, for over an hour before pouring. This is still very fruit forward, it seems to taste much younger than its age. Really no change from my previous bottle a few years ago. (3814 views) | | | Tasted by bookert on 6/25/2019 & rated 92 points: Great effort for a weaker vintage. Less concentration than expected for a Shafer but with delicate fruit that dances around the tongue (4112 views) | | | Tasted by Labrador on 12/31/2018 & rated 92 points: This was a beautiful wine - yet surprisingly youthful - it should be decanted. It had great depth and richness made up of dark fruit. Once the air got to it, it became expressive and exhibited just that perfect hint of sweetness, that was balanced with its richness. It was mouth-coating and the finish went on and on. (2905 views) | | | Tasted by G_H on 4/17/2018 & rated 96 points: A Capella (My place): From a supposedly lesser vintage, this beauty shined tonight. Dense, opulent with notes of creme de cassis, four-fruit-jam, cedar and tobacco. Wow! (3706 views) | | | Tasted by Labrador on 1/7/2018 & rated 90 points: This is an incredibly big wine that we started on Friday evening and finished on Sunday while enjoying dim sum. It was double decanted through a Vinturi on Friday and was still big. It had smoothed out by Sunday. It was a balanced wine of rich dark fruit but without the expected sweetness. (2907 views) | | | Tasted by Bcw1989 on 1/1/2018 & rated 91 points: This wine was decanted for about 1 hour prior to dinner. Seems initially very tired and worn out. Not much fruit or any tannins. Over the course of the evening this wine held its own. Fruits began to show up and evolve just before dinner. This Shafer was delightful with dinner and food definitely brought out more of the characteristics of the wine. Even several hours after dinner, this wine was still going strong. I would drink them if you have some. (2882 views) | | | Tasted by Turneric121 on 12/26/2017 & rated 95 points: Very good. complex with a great finish (2736 views) | | | Tasted by ssspore on 12/23/2017 & rated 97 points: Still had a nice nose, long finish, and seemed to have more tannic struts left. Should age another 5-10 years (2698 views) | | | Tasted by Jeff Leve on 1/1/2017 & rated 92 points: Medium bodied, elegant in style, with good freshness, but lacking the level of depth, concentration and ripeness found in the best vintages. Still, this has nice character and is quite food friendly, mature and easy to drink today. (5183 views) | | | Tasted by SMHalps on 11/12/2016 & rated 94 points: Had this with 2 wine loving friends. Opened, poured 3 half glasses and then allowed to sit for 30 minutes before drinking. We finished the bottle (along with a different red) with a steak dinner over 2 hours.
This still has some youthful tasting fruit. Nice hints of vanilla on a big nose. Lots of big dark red fruits, and the tanins are pretty slight at this point. Long finish. Just a little sediment at the end. I think it was drinking great, but something was just missing to reach the outstanding mark (for me 95 points or higher). (4015 views) | | | Tasted by shaferguy91 on 3/7/2016 & rated 93 points: Decanted 1.5 hours. Wonderful Cab from a weak vintage. (5988 views) | | | Tasted by ebert on 4/3/2015 & rated 95 points: Beautiful cab with great dark red fruit on the nose and hints of cocoa and oak. The mouth feel is silky and full with great depth and complexity. Extremely well balanced with a luscious long finish. We tried it decanted (35-45min) and straight from the bottle and found the fresh red fruits much more appealing without decanting and tannins were fine without decanting but a bit more subtle after decanting. (7932 views) | | | Tasted by floridawinedrkr on 1/9/2015 & rated 95 points: This was our 3rd bottle of this since November 2014. We decanted this one for 4 hours. well worth it. Not thick or heavy. Great nose, cedar, mocha, chocolate covered cherries. Very smooth and silky. A little musty but blew off in the glass after 15 min. Well integrated from start to finish. tannins fully resolved. Very smooth with 30 second finish. Drank along side 2005 Grace Family and as the Grace was a little disjointed the Shafer was much more ready to be consumed. Not as Dark or thick as the Grace Family. Shafer Hillside is a great wine and never disappoints. (8606 views) | | | Tasted by floridawinedrkr on 11/29/2014 & rated 94 points: Opened the first bottle and decanted for 3 hours. Opened the second bottle and just popped and poured. All 4 of us thought the 2nd bottle was better than the first as the second bottle was much fuller, more body, and definitely more fruit on the finish. Excellent bottle for $200. I have never had a bad Shafer and we drink a lot of them. Even a bad bottle of Shafer is a treat. I would not decant this wine for more than 30 minutes. Its a good shafer but the 2001-2007, & 2010 are certainly better.
Tasting notes: The wine is very dark and inky colored. The legs are slow. There is heavy sediment in the bottle. It smells like blackberry, strawberry jam and cherry. There is a little alcohol on the nose and slightly on the finish but not enough to over power the wine. The body is medium/full. The wine has silky smooth texture. The wine finishes medium for 20+ seconds. The wine has low acidity. (6920 views) | | | Tasted by monk1019 on 10/2/2014 & rated 94 points: Well, consider it the best Napa Cab I've ever had. Perfect in every way!! Key word? Balance!!!!! (6716 views) | | | Tasted by Bcw1989 on 8/31/2014 & rated 92 points: Huge wine with a dark garnet look to it. Loads of read fruit on the nose and taste was long, but most of the tannins have gone away. Did not evolve much on the glass over dinner and drinking by itself after dinner. Beginning to see a shorter cellar life with this wine, but still today, is a nice experience. (5475 views) | | | Tasted by jackaroo on 2/14/2014 & rated 93 points: Fantastic, but not much of a future remaining. Drink up and enjoy! (5212 views) | | | Tasted by thomaskeil on 2/10/2014 & rated 91 points: Decanted 2 hours with benefit. Reddish violet color. Nose is full of CS fruit and some tobacco, leather, vanilla/mocha, and with some etoh poking through. The palate is medium+ bodied with supporting acidity and softening tannins. More balanced than complex, either texturally or flavor profile. Etoh again pokes through on the palate just a bit. Either I'm more sensitive or the lessening of the fruit 'load' allows the heat to emerge. Good length and very nice with NY strips. (4710 views) | | | Tasted by Agreenblatt on 2/5/2014 & rated 95 points: Let breathe for 2 hours plus. This is still a full bodied treat but will not get better with age. Drink em if you got em. Time is running out on this one. (4449 views) | | | Tasted by Margauxguy on 1/9/2014 & rated 89 points: A touch thin, sour cranberries, some richness. Drink up (4347 views) | | | Tasted by Frinkcorkz on 7/21/2013 & rated 95 points: Fantastic. Complex. Wish I had more. (5315 views) | | | Tasted by Wine_lvr on 7/1/2013 & rated 90 points: Shafer Hillside Select Vertical Tasting (Switzerland): 1998 - a difficult vintage and this is no different with the Shafer Hillside Select. Quite mature in color. It has a lactic nose with hints of leather. Strong dry tannins and acidity. Unbalanced and short. Over extracted berries with no backbone. Drink now - 2018 (5507 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Jeb Dunnuck
JebDunnuck.com, Napa Valley’s 2020s and 2021s (2/16/2023)
(Shafer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select) Login and sign up and 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. | By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (3/12/2002)
(Shafer, Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon Stags Leap District Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, May/June 2000, IWC Issue #90
(Shafer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select Stags Leap District) Subscribe to see review text. | By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, May/June 1999, IWC Issue #84
(Shafer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select Stags Leap District) Subscribe to see review text. | By Richard Jennings
RJonWine.com (9/6/2012)
(Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select) Dark red violet color; tart plum, menthol, blackberry, berry syrup nose; rich, tart plum, cassis, menthol, blackberry, berry syrup palate; has decades to go; long finish 94 points | By Richard Jennings
RJonWine.com (4/8/2011)
(Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select) Very dark red violet color; roasted black fruit, tart plum, charcoal nose; tasty, very tight, tart black fruit, tar, charcoal palate; long finish 92 points | By Richard Jennings
RJonWine.com (5/17/2007)
(Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select) Black fruit and cassis nose; concentrated rich plum and black fruit palate with depth; medium-plus finish 93+ pts. 93 points | By Richard Jennings
RJonWine.com (10/30/2004)
(Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select) Licorice, black fruit nose; concentrated, black fruit, licorice, chocolate palate; medium-plus finish 94 points | By Lyle Fass
Rockss and Fruit (1/6/2003)
(Shafer Hillside Select) Amazing nose. Currants, cassis, violets, nuts, raspberry, menthol, an amazing thickness to the nose. Very layered. Super concentrated on the palate. Perfectly balanced with layers of classicaly concentrated cab fruit. Caressing tannins. Outstanding length. Lives up to the hype even in this weak vintage. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of JebDunnuck.com and Vinous and JancisRobinson.com and RJonWine.com and Rockss and Fruit. (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 |
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