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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 89.7 pts. and median of 89 pts. in 42 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Hawk94 on 5/12/2018 & rated 92 points: A powerful wine! Great depth, complexity, good concentration, dark fruits, currants, dates, jammy, mineral, cigar box, very firm structure, chunky tannins, sweet, long after taste. (2007 views) | | | Tasted by cuffthis on 2/1/2016 & rated 86 points: Antique brick red in color, this wine showed stewed and faded aromas of milk chocolate, espresso and red currant on the nose. The mouth feel was very soft with more red currant and little acidity. The finish was short in length with the dangling acidity holding the faded fruits in the background. 14.4% abv.
A recent gift from my Boss's wine cellar, this wine is past its peak and needs to be drank immediately. There were subtle hints of what once was but that's it. (3461 views) | | | Tasted by rhanke on 9/15/2013: one of the best in a 2000 Merlot blind tasting out of 7. (5560 views) | | | Tasted by affordableCollector on 9/15/2013 & rated 88 points: red, orange in color. sweet fruit, earth, oak, on the nose. cherry, blackberry, tobacco, cedar, tar, bitter cocoa, green pepper, on the palate. huge acid, medium tannins, on the finish. (5485 views) | | | Tasted by Apschaefer@verizon.net on 12/31/2012 & rated 90 points: This wine is wonderful rounded with great flavors. After being stored in perfect cellar conditions since its release, the wine has aged perfectly.
Easy to drink. (6309 views) | | | Tasted by Rudolf on 11/1/2012 & rated 87 points: At the end that is what ls at stake. Still now a beautiful taste, smooth and round. Ruby taste elegant and low at accidity. Drink now. (5483 views) | | | Tasted by AlexHop on 4/3/2012 & rated 90 points: Really nice. Very balanced. I'm also tempted to say easy to drink but that might get interpreted the wrong way- it has some nice solid body, but its age is just about perfect. Some vegitable flavors, some leather, but not too much. (4872 views) | | | Tasted by AlexHop on 2/20/2012 & rated 89 points: Fairly simple but with some nice dark fruit flavors. (3067 views) | | | Tasted by uncle al on 11/21/2011 & rated 89 points: A very smooth and well balanced merlot. Not really passed its prime. I thought it was sort of fruit and complimented my filet very well (3286 views) | | | Tasted by iamandyc on 8/28/2011 & rated 88 points: I think it is past its prime as the fruit is not able to balance out the structure and oak. Still very good with food but not a wow wine any more. Needed three plus hours to achieve this rating. (2636 views) | | | Tasted by MAntonovich on 6/25/2011 & rated 87 points: Sadly, I've kept this one too long. Nice structure, supple tannins, but cloudy and murky. (2760 views) | | | Tasted by mmontejano on 12/14/2010 & rated 92 points: Wow. Great. (3019 views) | | | Tasted by slapsht007 on 12/12/2010 & rated 89 points: The cork broke as I removed it which caused me pause, but careful pouring into out of the decanter saved the day. Very well integrated wine, very rich and full. Nice dark berries present with subtle but balanced acidity. I was worried it was past its time, but no. Went real well with the beef tenderloin I pepared for dinner. (3064 views) | | | Tasted by Yamadori on 5/2/2010 & rated 88 points: Consistent with previous TN. Gave this a short decant but it continued to improve over the next couple of hours. Smooth and refined with nice acidity and a medium body. Nice dark fruit with notes of chocolate and cedar. Medium length finish. Should last a while longer but probably best to drink these over the shorter term. (3484 views) | | | Tasted by Anonymous on 3/26/2010 & rated 88 points: Cherry, blackberry and very smooth. A bit high toned, medium bodied and straightforward but still a nice drink. I'd drink them now. (3548 views) | | | Tasted by Yamadori on 3/12/2010 & rated 88 points: Dark purple color with dark cherries, plum & a little oak on the nose. A little thin intially but over several hours this developed a rich, silky mouthfeel with dark fruit flavors and a little chocolate and cedar. Moderate finish. Very good and has a few years ahead of it still. (3558 views) | | | Tasted by TannicBeast on 5/22/2009 & rated 91 points: Nice ruby color; alcohol, a little earthy, oaky, with good black fruit. Full- bodied but in a lighter style; tied for second at a blind tasting at yapa as a cab. (4009 views) | | | Tasted by KeithAkers on 11/7/2008 & rated 92 points: Binny's California Night (Binny's, Highland Park IL): nose: very evolved and well balanced nose. More st emilion in style, but still retains some of its california roots with red cherries, roasted herbs, blueberries, and bits of cedar planks. Very good depth also
taste: Beautiful and well layered. Very smooth texture on the palate showing off how elegant merlot can be with Red cherries, BLueberries, Cedar, cassis, and some roasted herbs
overall: A very pretty merlot that has fully evolved. Velvety and elegant with a smooth red cherry attack and roasted herb finish. A really interesting wine to see how a good california merlot can evolve (4957 views) | | | Tasted by iamandyc on 8/3/2008 & rated 90 points: Unfortunately was the third bottle of the night and popped and poured -- it needed time to round into shape as by the last sips, the structure softened and oak integrated to make it velvety. Early on, the fruit and the tannins collided. Deep black fruit on palate and nose. (4379 views) | | | Tasted by rdorman on 11/10/2007: Very big for California Merlot. Shafer really does Merlot right. (5005 views) | | | Tasted by Bunski on 10/10/2006 & rated 90 points: Nice aromas, consistent fruit and still some tannins left. (5246 views) | | | Tasted by Mark on 6/17/2006: No tasting note. The bottle did not seem terribly interesting nor balanced, but I strpmg;u suspect my taste was impaired due to a migraine. (5524 views) | | | Tasted by tomlbs on 3/6/2006 & rated 93 points: If this was a typical merlot, the movie Sideways would have had to have had a different script. This is a big brute of dark brambley fruit, spices, and mocha on the nose and ripe plums, cherries, cassis, and espresso in the mouth with a long long finish. At first, we noticed the dusty tannins but this wine continued to evolve for hours after opening , becoming more elegant and seductive as it sat. It is one of the best merlots that I have tasted and I am convinced that it will continue to improve if cellared properly over the next five to seven years. (5774 views) | | | Tasted by ken-yyz on 11/29/2005 & rated 89 points: Decanted for two hours and consumed over another two hours. Deep, dark brooding colour. The nose has a nice mix of dark strawberry, cassis and leather. More than medium bodied the palate is silky smooth and the tannins are fully resolved.
I sipped a small glass before decanting and there was the tell tale 2000 green streak, but happily, it dissapeared in the decanter. What was left was a wonderful new world Merlot, just short of being exceptional. (5867 views) | | | Tasted by zinslurpie on 10/16/2005 & rated 90 points: Decanted for an hour. Can see why decanting for 2 hours would be better. Quite nice. Tannins well integrated, medium bodied and nice balance of mocha and black cherry flavors. Look forward to having my last bottle in a year or so. Wow, year 2000! (5900 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, May/June 2003, IWC Issue #108
(Shafer Vineyards Merlot Napa Valley Stags Leap District) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of Vinous. (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.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 |
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