The only cult cabernet I buy every year is Shafer’s Hillside Select — I love drinking it, and it’s the only example of this rarified category I can afford. Not that it’s cheap. But compared to Screaming Eagle at $500 or Harlan Estate at $350 per bottle, a $200 Hillside Select is a bargain. Plus, I’ve always liked the uncharacteristic modesty of the father-son-winemaker team behind Shafer’s top wine. Shafer Vineyards is one of the few wineries left in Napa that can be described as a farm rather than a vanity project; especially after taking my mother for a birthday visit last Friday, I’m convinced that the Shafers make wine for a living, not for a lifestyle.
How does this big, bold cab come from bantam-weight vines? Click here to find out:
Here’s the trick to the Hillside Select: the steep, terraced vineyards that yield the grapes for this wine are growing in a mere three feet of topsoil. Under that is solid bedrock. As a result, the vines’ roots struggle to get the water and nutrients they need, which is good, since stressed-out vines make better wine. Indeed, from the terrace in front of the winery, the vines looked distinctly stunted. Not the most scenic vineyard — but again, we’re talking agriculture here, not landscaping, and thank Bacchus for that.
We tasted through all their current releases; here are my notes (as well as my mother’s two cents):
2005 Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay ($45): Giant tropical aromas, including mango, pineapple, and coconut. Because the wine is barrel fermented and spends a lot of time resting on its lees, but doesn’t go through a second fermentation, it’s got a vibrant mouthfeel with lots of appley flavors and just a little creaminess. Long fruity finish. Mom, who likes the big buttery style of chardonnay, wasn’t as thrilled.
2005 Napa Valley Merlot ($45): Who knew? Merlot makes up one-third of Shafer’s total production — it’s their cash cow! This bottling has a great cherry-nutmeg-graphite nose, a bright mouthfeel with pepper ntoes, and a good clean finish. Mom felt it was a little dry.
2004 One Point Five ($65): Shafer’s Napa Valley cab, now renamed after the one and a half generations running the winery, has a beautiful aroma of plum confit, cassis, and clove. I got a little toast and forest floor too. I love the mouthfeel of Shafer’s cabernet: polished, with rich black fruit. Long finish with pepper tastes. Delish. I bought a sample since we were tasting the One Point Five, as our host put it, “In the very infancy of this wine.”
2004 Relentless ($65) Maybe it’s just because I miss the Shafers’ old “Firebreak” sangiovese, which they discontinued in part to focus on this syrah, but I wasn’t crazy about the 2004 Relentless. It was a little lighter in the aromas department and a bit too tannic. This is a “California-style” syrah with clean blueberry flavors, not earthy like a Côte Rôtie.
2003 Hillside Select ($200). I think this beauty is a little closed up right now, the week of its release. It’s got great color but is a bit reserved on the nose. Then, though, I could tell that loads of sweet, black and red fruit are ready to burst forth on the palate, along with a touch of earth. Wow. Soft, rich, and concentrated. Only 2000 cases see daylight; pray that most of them go directly into the coldest, darkest, cellars for at least another 15 years before they’re sampled.
