Opened by TLV for his daughter's birthday and paired with Korean spiced lamb chops. Notes of cedar, plum, black currants and dusty earth. Medium-bodied and completely integrated, featuring flavors of black fruit, herbs and licorice. Wonderfully balanced, finishing with good length.
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Opened at Anvil for April's birthday. Showing no signs of visible age with an inky dark color throughout. Plum notes with a hint of green pepper and herbs. Elegant finish with fully integrated tannins.
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Great fruit. Impeccable balance. Some may say a bit thin for a wine of this caliber. I would simply say great finesse. This wine is in a great spot right now. Let is breathe for at least an hour and amazing! Not a hint of bricking around the edges.
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- Brick color with medium forming legs. It's overly acidic with a medium/full body. Narrow texture with a medium finish - Drank 8/9/12 with dinner of pork ribs and green vegetables. Good body, yet little aroma. Slightly acidic, but good after couple hours.
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Saturday Tasting Group (Knightsbridge Wine Shop (Northbrook, IL)): Plump aged New World cult styling. Purple fruit, inky, plummy blueberry pie. Super creamy - awesome mouth feel. A little bit of an enjoyable green streak as well. Balanced fine tannins. Big and delicious. A strong feminine floral component. Really pretty soft opulent qualities. A fantastic rich expressive wine. Shows a real sense of terroir - nice ripened mountain fruit. Beautiful. One of the best Napa Cabs from one of the best vintage of the 90's.
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Mötley Crü does '90/'91 California Cabernet Sauvignon (Steve Williams): 1990 Shafer Hillside Select: Mostly cedar on the nose, with hints of fruit and spice. Plum was the most noticeable flavor on the palate. Good balance, but ultimately a bit underwhelming. (Initially, this was much better, but seemed to drop off pretty quickly after 30 minutes of air.)
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A touch less dark than the others. With a more red fruited profile. Lovely and less full bodied than the previous wines. Chocolate, cassis, and dark cherries, with some acidic presence on the back end. Tannins nearly resolved and an excellent wine, but for me should be drunk soon. 91 pts.
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Pretty different to my other previous experience of HSS. No oak and creme scent that I normally would expect from this wine. Perhaps this is the older vintage style.
The wine still rock , big, but tends to be on more of the classic style rather than the super CA Cab like the recent vintage. Old world style with the unique nose of herb, black fruits, tobacco, smoke. Big in mouth, with tasty and big finish
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Elegant, deep, clean and try to be French, old Dominus style. Good structure, fine tannin, medium-bodied, silky texture, delicious and nice finished. I prefer an American type 1995, 1998. Very peak at this moment....Drink up.
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Bright ruby red with slight bricking on the edges. Complex nose of dark fruits, cedar, tobacco, earth, and mint. Unfortunately, the palate didn't live up to the promise of the beautiful aromatics. Decent fruit on the palate but a touch of a vegetable/herbal quality; the mint/eucalyptus became more prominent over time. A little thin on the mid palate but good finish. Seemed to become tart toward the end of the evening. I'd say this wine has peaked and may be declining.
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Shafer Hillside Select Dinner (Manresa Restaurant, Los Gatos, California USA): A very big and active nose with pronounced eucalyptus, juniper, olive and Bordeaux tobacco. While palate is fairly mouth-filling and smooth, it showed a green herbaceous streak. Elias Fernandez says that the 1990 was filtered aggressively and was picked in what he now regards as an unripe state. By 1993 filtering had been cut back and the grapes were left to ripen longer.
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Wine was decanted twenty minutes before drinking. Although this was the first HSS bottled without filtering, there was minimal sediment.Color was a deep crimson with little or no lightening at the edge. The nose was powerful and complex when poured from the decanter showing smoke and cassis. Forty minutes later, the nose had faded quite a bit. The wine showed a full body filling the mouth with big fruit and balanced but not obtrusive acidity. Finish was long with smooth tannins sweetened by age. A first-class bottle of wine with the bloom of youth still visible.
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Dark red with slight lightening at the rim, no bricking, ripe, sweet, mature fruit nose with plums and cassis, just a hint of mint, nice complexity, very smooth palate feel the finish, medium to full body, flavors follow the nose, some mild soft tannins o
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12/17/2016 - Burgundy Al wrote: 91 Points
Another Saturday at Chevalier...Mostly Blind (Chevalier Fine Wines - Chicago IL): Cellared well since release by its original owner. Black fruit, nicely fresh for its age. Spice and liqueur notes, with everything in wonderful harmony.
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11/18/2016 - Burgundy Al wrote: 91 Points
Acker Pre-Auction Tasting Wines & In-Auction Dinner Wines (Zuma - New York NY): Tasting, brief note. Nicely fresh black fruit, ripe with liqueur notes, but well proportioned and balanced.
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9/25/2014 - AllRed wrote: 94 Points
Opened by TLV for his daughter's birthday and paired with Korean spiced lamb chops. Notes of cedar, plum, black currants and dusty earth. Medium-bodied and completely integrated, featuring flavors of black fruit, herbs and licorice. Wonderfully balanced, finishing with good length.
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9/25/2014 - thelostverse wrote: 93 Points
Opened at Anvil for April's birthday. Showing no signs of visible age with an inky dark color throughout. Plum notes with a hint of green pepper and herbs. Elegant finish with fully integrated tannins.
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8/26/2013 - Burgundy Al wrote: 90 Points
Birthday Celebration (Del Frisco - Chicago IL): Brief note. Very fat and lush, still mostly fresh, but not well centered.
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7/1/2013 - Wine_lvr wrote: 88 Points
Shafer Hillside Select Vertical Tasting (Switzerland): Brick color. Malt and Vermouth in the Nose. Quite medicinal in flavor with only a bit of fruit left. This wine is past its prime.
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4/22/2013 - CJM wrote: 94 Points
Right at the end of its life - wonderful wine still with lively fruit and deep, rich flavors
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3/3/2013 - 1961Vintage Likes this wine: 95 Points
Great fruit. Impeccable balance. Some may say a bit thin for a wine of this caliber. I would simply say great finesse. This wine is in a great spot right now. Let is breathe for at least an hour and amazing! Not a hint of bricking around the edges.
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8/9/2012 - rh marcin wrote: 90 Points
- Brick color with medium forming legs. It's overly acidic with a medium/full body. Narrow texture with a medium finish - Drank 8/9/12 with dinner of pork ribs and green vegetables. Good body, yet little aroma. Slightly acidic, but good after couple hours.
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11/12/2010 - txfireman wrote: 90 Points
Starting to lose its structure. Tasted side by side with 94 and 05 HSS.
Murky but definable with the tannins. But loose in comparison to the 05.
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10/16/2010 - psmith wrote:
Dark fruits. Welcome green notes show a distinctly classic style. Soft front. Medium-grain tannins. Middle aged, but will last. Very nice.
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10/16/2010 - beezer6 wrote: 94 Points
Saturday Tasting Group (Knightsbridge Wine Shop (Northbrook, IL)): Plump aged New World cult styling. Purple fruit, inky, plummy blueberry pie. Super creamy - awesome mouth feel.
A little bit of an enjoyable green streak as well. Balanced fine tannins. Big and delicious. A strong feminine floral component.
Really pretty soft opulent qualities. A fantastic rich expressive wine. Shows a real sense of terroir - nice ripened mountain fruit. Beautiful.
One of the best Napa Cabs from one of the best vintage of the 90's.
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11/21/2009 - MarkC wrote:
Mötley Crü does '90/'91 California Cabernet Sauvignon (Steve Williams): 1990 Shafer Hillside Select: Mostly cedar on the nose, with hints of fruit and spice. Plum was the most noticeable flavor on the palate. Good balance, but ultimately a bit underwhelming. (Initially, this was much better, but seemed to drop off pretty quickly after 30 minutes of air.)
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4/9/2009 - cct wrote: 91 Points
A touch less dark than the others. With a more red fruited profile. Lovely and less full bodied than the previous wines. Chocolate, cassis, and dark cherries, with some acidic presence on the back end. Tannins nearly resolved and an excellent wine, but for me should be drunk soon. 91 pts.
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2/5/2009 - loverboy wrote: 92 Points
Pretty different to my other previous experience of HSS. No oak and creme scent that I normally would expect from this wine. Perhaps this is the older vintage style.
The wine still rock , big, but tends to be on more of the classic style rather than the super CA Cab like the recent vintage. Old world style with the unique nose of herb, black fruits, tobacco, smoke. Big in mouth, with tasty and big finish
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2/5/2009 - noppakit s. wrote: 91 Points
Elegant, deep, clean and try to be French, old Dominus style. Good structure, fine tannin, medium-bodied, silky texture, delicious and nice finished.
I prefer an American type 1995, 1998.
Very peak at this moment....Drink up.
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12/5/2007 - PaulH wrote: flawed
Celebrating Repeal Day with Twelve California Wines (1968-2005) (Acme Chophouse, San Francisco, CA): Sadly, this was corked.
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11/23/2007 - rsepulve wrote: 90 Points
Bright ruby red with slight bricking on the edges. Complex nose of dark fruits, cedar, tobacco, earth, and mint. Unfortunately, the palate didn't live up to the promise of the beautiful aromatics. Decent fruit on the palate but a touch of a vegetable/herbal quality; the mint/eucalyptus became more prominent over time. A little thin on the mid palate but good finish. Seemed to become tart toward the end of the evening. I'd say this wine has peaked and may be declining.
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2/13/2007 - rh marcin wrote:
Drank on plane on way to FL. very hearty, full-bodied cab.
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8/11/2006 - goofy Yno wrote: 88 Points
disapointing, woodsy, mint, red fruits. tasted blind and thought it was chilain.
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4/22/2006 - jsebiri wrote: 93 Points
this was good , thinking it took a good 50 minutes before starting to faid a bit . But , those 1st 50 mins were very good. PURE CAB.
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12/7/2005 - jwgauthier wrote: 90 Points
Dark fruit on the nose with medium body and a slightly hot finish. Still had a touch of tannins.
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3/13/2005 - PaulH wrote: 89 Points
Shafer Hillside Select Dinner (Manresa Restaurant, Los Gatos, California USA): A very big and active nose with pronounced eucalyptus, juniper, olive and Bordeaux tobacco. While palate is fairly mouth-filling and smooth, it showed a green herbaceous streak. Elias Fernandez says that the 1990 was filtered aggressively and was picked in what he now regards as an unripe state. By 1993 filtering had been cut back and the grapes were left to ripen longer.
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1/20/2005 - PaulH wrote: 94 Points
Wine was decanted twenty minutes before drinking. Although this was the first HSS bottled without filtering, there was minimal sediment.Color was a deep crimson with little or no lightening at the edge. The nose was powerful and complex when poured from the decanter showing smoke and cassis. Forty minutes later, the nose had faded quite a bit. The wine showed a full body filling the mouth with big fruit and balanced but not obtrusive acidity. Finish was long with smooth tannins sweetened by age. A first-class bottle of wine with the bloom of youth still visible.
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7/9/2004 - dbg wrote:
Dark red with slight lightening at the rim, no bricking, ripe, sweet,
mature fruit nose with plums and cassis, just a hint of mint, nice
complexity, very smooth palate feel the finish, medium to full body,
flavors follow the nose, some mild soft tannins o
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3/13/1998 - dbg wrote:
took 2 hrs to open, then great
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