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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 90.2 pts. and median of 90 pts. in 32 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by markakin on 8/24/2016 & rated 91 points: Smooth, rich, full bodied, with some light fruit still left. Drink the others soon. (3284 views) | | | Tasted by jjcnrose on 4/5/2015 & rated 90 points: Softened nicely after 20 minutes. Still has its fruit but has moved past being too fruit forward. Bit of a tang at finish but wet. (4089 views) | | | Tasted by callmeacab22 on 12/6/2014 & rated 90 points: No Notes. (4298 views) | | | Tasted by peternelson on 11/30/2013 & rated 90 points: Cloudy soft ruby; smoky plummy notes with sweet cherry, shrooms, wet clay, underlying faded raspberry-strawberry, some graphite; rich smooth plush mouthfeel; quite low on acidity, but easy going and comforting, with a slight tang on the finish. Nice and at its peak now. 90-91 (5072 views) | | | Tasted by tony.domenico1@gmail.com on 12/11/2011 & rated 91 points: a little past its prime. need to drink it now. still has beautiful shafer full body merlot taste. (6647 views) | | | Tasted by DecoEd on 9/26/2011 & rated 91 points: Drink Up. (3924 views) | | | Tasted by The Raven on 5/29/2011 & rated 92 points: Great wine with lots of fruit and a very nice finish. (3300 views) | | | Tasted by wine-enthusiast on 4/9/2011 & rated 91 points: Smooth cherry fruit- some cedar- long finish. Wine is just past it's peak, fruit not as full in the past but still a gorgeous wine- my last bottle. glad i drank it when it was still in this shape, (3351 views) | | | Tasted by Richmart on 3/8/2011 flawed bottle: cooked (2672 views) | | | Tasted by Richmart on 2/21/2011 & rated 89 points: plum, raisin, dark fruits, soil, very old world smell
fairly drying on mid palate
medium finish returning raisin and dark fruit balanced
good quality maybe past its prime (2040 views) | | | Tasted by jsebiri on 1/17/2010: opened and puored and it was very very dry , smelled of very heavy prunes and raisons ( burnt ) not very pleasant on the nose we came back to this 3-4 hours later and most of the stink had actually blown off fruit was coming through and it was less dry very nice actually but alas it was end of the night and 5 bottles after the 1st taste corked it up and will try again this afternoon we'll see (2512 views) | | | Tasted by mdefreitas on 1/18/2009 & rated 93 points: Football & Merlot @ Howard's 2009 (Old Greenwich, CT): Tobbaco leaf, minerals. Nice old world character. Good depth. (3549 views) | | | Tasted by enosnob on 8/18/2008 & rated 90 points: 08/16/08: decanted 1 hour. Red/blue color, deep clear and bright with no amber on rim, youthful. The nose is bright fruit, but spice predominates, and cedar as well. This is a full bodied merlot helped by a small amount of cabernet in the blend i would guess, that adds to the great balance and structure. The flavors are currant, blueberry, plum, cedar, coffee, chocolate and black tea. The finisih is long with soft evolved tannin and tea. (2882 views) | | | Tasted by wineislife on 5/10/2008 & rated 85 points: A bit odd on the nose- some herbacious notes with tar (bottle open for a few hours). The herbacious flavors are apparent in the front and mid with a very distinct tobacco on the finish. Hate to admit it, but IF I had tasted it blind I surely would have rated in lower. The Shafer label staring me in the face bought it a couple of mercy points. (3081 views) | | | Tasted by eastover on 4/4/2008: Friday night at home - leftover beef shortribs. Nice pairing - good bottle. (3075 views) | | | Tasted by wineismylife on 12/9/2007 & rated 90 points: WIML90,PURPLE91
Tasted December 9, 2007. Opened and served immediately. Dark garnet color in the glass, clear hue throughout. Nose of briar patch, plum, smoke, spice and florals. Flavors of rich dark pllums, black berries, black cherries and some licorice notes. Medium acidity, full resolved tannins, medium body. Drink now...this wine is at it's peak if not leaning over the downhill side. Good stuff, sadly my last bottle. (3197 views) | | | Tasted by Bakeman on 11/18/2007 & rated 89 points: Decanted this one and drank next to the 2005 vintage (without decanting) side by side. This is mature and subtle. The decanting helped open this one up. The fruit on the 2005 is more pronounced due to the young age, the 99 was very nice, but starting the slow decline. No need to wait on my final bottle and next time, decant and let sit for at least an hour before trying. (3299 views) | | | Tasted by eastover on 11/10/2007: Saturday night at home, Bob and Christine visiting for the weekend (attending a wedding on Sunday). Garlic brick chicken on the grill with rice and snap peas. Wine showed well, but no reason to wait to drink the last bottle. (3321 views) | | | Tasted by joshmethot on 11/7/2007: Showed moderate. Expecting big complexity but wine was one dimensional. Fruit was flat and plummy, tannins nearly gone. Should have drank earlier, despite magnum size. good wine young... (3505 views) | | | Tasted by bprosenberg on 5/27/2007 & rated 91 points: A bit astringent at first, the bottle quickly opened-up to reveal smooth cherry flavors with a hint of liquorice. (3713 views) | | | Tasted by dwbumsted on 12/25/2006 & rated 92 points: This merlot was drinking beautifully with plenty of dried fruit and a velvety almost grainy mouthfeel. a great Christmas Eve wine. (3727 views) | | | Tasted by fisk15 on 8/22/2006 & rated 89 points: Nice merlot that is holding up reasonably well. I will drink my last one in the near future, since IMHO it is not going to improve any. I have had about a case of this over the years and it's major development now is it's diminishing fruit intensity. Dark berry with plum, leather and cedar notes. (3874 views) | | | Tasted by wineismylife on 1/27/2006 & rated 90 points: PURPLE93, WIML90. Showing really well. I have 1 bottle left. Torn on whether to pop soon and enjoy or see if it improves. (5949 views) | | | Tasted by ml on 1/9/2006 & rated 88 points: Still very full fruit, with very little tannin left. I think now is a good time to drink. Nice cherry on the nose and palate, with some interesting vanilla notes on the nose. Relatively short and uninteresting finish. (4430 views) | | | Tasted by ml on 12/15/2005 & rated 91 points: Drinking very well now, with a nice opulent nose of cherries, plums, and spice, with a very nice lush mouthfeel with little tannin and deep dark cherry palate. Will probably not improve much if at all, but should continue to drink well for the next few years. (4612 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (3/12/2002)
(Shafer, Merlot Napa Valley Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, May/June 2001, IWC Issue #96
(Shafer Vineyards Merlot Napa Valley Stags Leap District) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of JancisRobinson.com and 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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