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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 92.2 pts. and median of 93 pts. in 31 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Olson’s Wine Room 2005 on 3/13/2024 & rated 95 points: Full bodied, dry round, plum and cherry, dark chocolate. Smooth from the first sip. Only needed 15 minutes to open up. (775 views) | | | Tasted by Lion's Share on 1/12/2024 & rated 91 points: Dark aromas dominate the nose, tar, leather, black licorice, and black olives. The palate is rich and smooth with blackberries and licorice predominating. The tar and licorice follow on with rounded tannins to a long finish. It’s very bold, maybe too bold, and just a touch on the hot side. Decanted for two hours before serving. (1071 views) | | | Tasted by Mathijs81 on 1/1/2024 & rated 98 points: Upon feedback, gave this two hours in decanter.
It immediately filled the kitchen with spicy aromatics.
A tad shy in nose, full on soft and velvet in mouth.
Even developed during the evening and survived 2nd day.
High alcohol, but it’s tempered by the smooth silky feeling in mouth.
Stunning wine … easy 98 for me !
Mathijs (1030 views) | | | Tasted by rhg on 8/13/2023 & rated 94 points: Well balanced tannins. Purple fruits. Blue fruit. Violets. (2194 views) | | | Tasted by chchchch__ on 5/5/2023 & rated 94 points: Got knocked down into rocks today by a wave in Big Sur cove. In the second or two of panic, time slowed a bit as they say. Or maybe the time-slowing is an artifact of reflection after survival. In either case I'll remember it this way. Hearing the rush and froth of water, feeling the cold and the somehow always-unexpected force of water, I considered my condition as my last moment - time slowed and I reflected: really it was good, my life of toil and frustration. Because the toil and frustration is interrupted occasionally, but enough, more than enough if I'm honest, by pure consumption of life's pleasures: great wine like this bottle of Shaffer from last night; a run through a forest of redwoods along a river; conversations frivolous, cancellable, dark, light, and drunk with a best friend. So if I was swept out to the cold and violent Pacific that moment, well, I had it pretty good. (2575 views) | | | Tasted by econnertx on 3/5/2023 & rated 88 points: not bad, just not my favorite taste profile. Had too much oak to it (which I don't recall from my last tasting) (2408 views) | | | Tasted by Francophile1 on 2/7/2023 & rated 83 points: Not true to the Syrah varietal. Dominated by alcohol and lacking depth and personality. Dull and uninteresting. (2477 views) | | | Tasted by WildeMeeuw on 1/8/2023 & rated 91 points: Kleur: Diep ondoordringbaar donkerrood. Aroma / bouquet: Kaboom… Een explosie van donker fruit, kersen en vooral bramen en blauwe bessen. Daarnaast houtinvloed in de zin van een zoetig aroma van sigarenkistjes. Smaak / Afdronk: Mondvullende, verleidelijke wijn. Een beperkte fraicheur, mondvullend en geconcentreerd. Jong maar uiterst aangenaam. Aangename maar stevige tannines. Mooie win die in de toekomst alleen nog maar aan harmonie en complexiteit zal winnen. Algemeen / potentieel: 50 + Kleur: 5 + Aroma / bouquet: 11 + Smaak / Afdronk: 17 + Algemeen / potentieel: 8 = 91/100
Colour: Deep impenetrable dark red. Aroma / bouquet: Kaboom… An explosion of dark fruit, cherries and especially blackberries and blueberries. In addition, wood influence in the sense of a sweet aroma of cigar boxes. Taste / Aftertaste: Mouth-filling, seductive wine. A limited freshness, mouth-filling and concentrated. Young but extremely pleasant. Pleasant but firm tannins. Nice win that will only gain in harmony and complexity in the future. General / potential: 50 + Color: 5 + Aroma / bouquet: 11 + Taste / Aftertaste: 17 + General / potential: 8 = 91/100 (2449 views) | | | Tasted by Thek on 12/27/2022 & rated 94 points: blue flower, blue fruit, subtle tar. Palate of restrained blue fruit, tar, elegant, chalky medium coarse tannins, mod acidity (1611 views) | | | Tasted by cubswinws on 5/24/2022 & rated 93 points: Full of vim and vigor. Obviously it’s youth shows thru but it’s still really good. I will hold off for a few years on the next one. (2609 views) | | | Tasted by WineGuyX on 4/19/2022 & rated 93 points: Super saturated purple. Heady nose, loaded with creosote, rich blackberry cobbler, toasted oak and vanilla. Thick-textured and very full bodied, this is loaded for bear. First time with the wine, so I wanted to try at release. I would recommend holding bottles for at least 2-3 years so the oak can integrate and the fruit can come to the fore, then drink over the following decade. 93+ (2074 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 Relentless) Login and sign up and see review text. | By James Suckling
JamesSuckling.com (4/18/2022)
(Shafer Vineyards Napa Valley Relentless, United States) Subscribe to see review text. | By Antonio Galloni
Vinous, The 2019 Napa Valley Cabernets: A Deep Dive (Jan 2022) (1/1/2022)
(Shafer Vineyards Relentless Napa Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jeb Dunnuck
JebDunnuck.com, Napa Valley’s 2018s (1/27/2021)
(Shafer Vineyards Relentless) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Antonio Galloni
Vinous, Napa Valley’s Thrilling 2018s & 2019s, Parts 1 & 2 (Jan 2021) (1/1/2021)
(Shafer Vineyards Relentless Napa Valley Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Antonio Galloni
Vinous, 2017 & 2018 Napa Valley In Depth (Jan 2020) (1/1/2020)
(Shafer Vineyards Relentless Napa Valley Red) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of JebDunnuck.com and JamesSuckling.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.Syrah BlendThe 2018 is 40% Merlot and 60% Syrah.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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