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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 89.3 pts. and median of 91 pts. in 32 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by ipp on 12/24/2020 & rated 91 points: Forgotten in my cellar for 15 years! Tried a bottle for Christmas Eve and had a backup 2017 available just in case. It was a beautiful deep yellow color, no browning at all. The nose was a bit muted, but was very good on the palate. Medium bodied, hints of toasted oak and citrus. Pleasant surprise. I have two more bottles of this 17 year old chard ... will drink over the holidays. Very good, but no need to press my luck. :) (608 views) | | | Tasted by ChateauLaFeet on 1/12/2020 & rated 70 points: I've had some wines past their prime and some way past their prime. And I can usually find a good thing to say about each. But not this one - this Chard is gone! Gone, baby, gone!
Orange color like a 30 year old Sauternes. Fertilizer on the nose.
I regretfully took a sip and could hardly wash the battery acid out of my mouth.
I didn't expect this wine to sing, but I've had extraordinarily better experiences with older California chardonnays of "lesser" quality. (737 views) | | | Tasted by Hickory Hills on 7/12/2014 & rated 60 points: Over aged and syrupy. Not undrinkable, but not enjoyable. Well past it's prime.
Opened on 7/11/2014. (2315 views) | | | Tasted by Tarpon222 on 3/12/2011 & rated 93 points: Wonderful. Deep gold color. Smooth as silk and rich but still has a crisp side on the palate. Drink it now - why wait?! (3537 views) | | | Tasted by oncocyte on 5/9/2010 & rated 87 points: Whoops, beginning to madeirize. Definite sherry like notes and visibly deep yellow color. Bought on release and stored at58 degrees. (3589 views) | | | Tasted by hamiltoncd on 11/17/2009 & rated 92 points: A beautiful bottle of wine. Buttery and well balanced. (3321 views) | | | Tasted by mike l. on 2/18/2009 & rated 88 points: butter, honey, caramel corn? heat on back end is surprising and excessive. very cotton candy butter jelly belly. i can see what people like in this but feel like ive tasted it in much cheaper bottles. (3951 views) | | | Tasted by Clarkmeister on 2/15/2009 & rated 87 points: Delmonico Wine Dinner (Delmonico Las Vegas): Super over the top Napa Cardonnay with all the wood you could ever want. Big and spicy. Not my style but plenty of people loved it. (2261 views) | | | Tasted by Wino from Michigan on 1/15/2009 & rated 96 points: My wife simple states it -- "I really like it!"
This wine is the standard for <$50 Chards from California. Yes there may be better ignoring price, but for the price this Chard is great! IT is buttery with soft and well balanced tannis/oak. It has a great color and is full of vanilla with light hints of citrus.
I love it also! (1925 views) | | | Tasted by GA on 9/13/2008 & rated 93 points: 9/09 Medium-bodied - bright lemon/lime mango fruit attack with integrated balanced oak finish - ready now - layers and complexity. 93 pts. (1924 views) | | | Tasted by Tejano on 8/18/2008: Nice medium gold color and a tropical nose that had a resolved backing of oak which followed thru on the pallet. Still a firm mouth feel and grip, but very resolved and a tasty structure that was highlighted by fruit and an evolved light edge of oak. Very, very nice... (1530 views) | | | Tasted by blunnies on 5/31/2008 & rated 92 points: Balances Oak -- SOLID! Full bodied white -- great and not over-aoked! Fun Chardonnay. Still has cellar time left. (1900 views) | | | Tasted by thomaskeil on 10/23/2007 & rated 90 points: This has taken on weight. The lovely pear and lemon custard aromas are still prominent and the minerals are still there, but the acidity seems to be a bit low. I don't want to say that this is flabby, but it does have the crispness I associate with RSR or with previous bottles of this vintage. (1937 views) | | | Tasted by Mark on 8/18/2007 & rated 90 points: Light gold straw, crisp with subtle mineral and lemon notes. Some pear, some oak and some floral notes. Nice and balanced, but it didn’t particularly shine in any one area (like say, a Kistler). (2083 views) | | | Tasted by Tejano on 5/10/2007 & rated 90 points: Nice gold color with a wandering aroma of citrus elements and minerals, and an oaky backing. Easy entry, but a firm mid palate of fruit texture that had a thick enticing grip that had an almost thick like viscosity, and a lingering finish that was highlighted by an oaky texture that was on one hand almost overbearing...only to hang on at the end with an enticing and interesting hang time. Drank over several hours with a sense of fading at the end...telling me that my remaining bottles need to be finished off in the near future. (2046 views) | | | Tasted by thomaskeil on 1/28/2007 & rated 91 points: Another great showing. (2188 views) | | | Tasted by thomaskeil on 12/31/2006 & rated 91 points: Much as in October. The stoney floral notes were the most captivating elements for this evening, probably because the pairing was a very rich shrimp on angel hair pasta boiled in a reduction fluid which may have obscured the fruit notes. (2227 views) | | | Tasted by ticketking on 11/28/2006 & rated 92 points: Tonight we stayed home and watched the Big Ticket and the Minnesota Timberwolves take on the Houston Rockets. I decided to open a bottle of 2003 Shafer Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay to go along with some Thai left-overs. Medium straw in color, the Shafer Chardonnay has a beautiful nose of citrus and floral elements. This wine has a great mouth feel with the crisp, abundant fruit balanced nicely with the oak. The mineral finish goes on forever. Overall, a great bottle of wine and a nice treat for a Tuesday night. 92 points. Now if only the Timberwolves can come back and beat the Rockets. (2752 views) | | | Tasted by thomaskeil on 10/1/2006 & rated 91 points: More golden hued now. Lemon custard with white fruit and flowers on the nose. Incredibly well balanced in the mouth with stoney acidity and almost thick fruit striking a nice harmony. Good long balanced finish. (2336 views) | | | Tasted by 58degrees on 6/30/2006 & rated 93 points: Crisp and refreshing. Pear and citrus flavors with a well managed amount of oak. Very nice chard. (2798 views) | | | Tasted by Tejano on 3/10/2006 & rated 90 points: Firm gold color and a rather tart nose of citrus elements that stayed awhile and in time, to me, had some light stone fruit nuances that gave this a little more character. Attention getter from the first sip and a balanced and full mouth feel of fresh fruit that was pleasing going down with a finish that lingered longer than I expected. This should hold up awhile for cellaring to enjoy the changing personality over time... (2681 views) | | | Tasted by thomaskeil on 12/25/2005 & rated 90 points: Very expressive nose: lemony-pear fruit, spice, mineral and floral notes (none hiding). Terrific mouth feel with both a crispness and a certain opulence. Not a profound wine, but certainly a very enjoyable one. (2879 views) | | | Tasted by mrwhy2k on 11/28/2005: Smooth and fruit filled body. Easy to drink with a meal or alone. (2959 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, May/June 2005, IWC Issue #120
(Shafer Vineyards Chardonnay Red Shoulder Ranch Carneros Napa Valley) 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.Chardonnay The Chardonnay GrapeUSAAmerican 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 / SonomaSONOMA: The Yorkville Highlands AVA, approved in 1998, is located in the southwestern corner of Mendocino County, between Sonoma County's Alexander Valley to the South and Mendocino County!s Anderson Valley to the North. The region is 25 miles long, roughly in the shape of rectangle and bisected by Highway 128 which runs the length of the AVA. The region!s terrain is hilly and forested, with elevations ranging from 1,078 to 2,442 feet above sea level.
The distinguishing features of the Yorkville Highlands AVA are rocky soils with a high gravel content and the climate, which is cooler than Alexander Valley but warmer than Anderson Valley, and significantly cooler at night than the surrounding areas.CarnerosStraddles the southern ends of Napa & Sonoma Counties. |
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