Community Tasting Note

William Kelley Likes this wine:

Thursday, May 8, 2014 - Shafer's 1997 Hillside Select is a magisterial wine of epic proportions, and by some margin my favorite example of this cuvée. Seriously endowed with fine-grained tannins, it needs some time in the decanter to open up, but when it does the aromatic display of blueberry, blackberry, spring flowers and woodsmoke is magical. On the palate this wine is undeniably massive, but the savory tannins give a more classical, mineral character to the wine than one finds in, say, the more super-ripe 2002 or 2007 vintages here. The 1997 Hillside is aging very gracefully indeed, without any trace of over-ripeness or heat, and may even be a few years away from its profound best. But it is a reference point for California Cabernet, and certainly one of the wines of the vintage.

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