Professional Ratings

• 100 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  The 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select offers a mindblowing display of blue, red and black fruits along with licorice and floral notes. The prodigious aromatics are followed by a precise, rich, pure blast of inky black currant, blueberry and mulberry flavors. The oak is virtually undetectable, and the wine, for all its power, richness and depth, is incredibly light on its feet and ethereal. It should drink well for 3 to 4 decades. Those who might argue that wines over 14% alcohol are hot, loathsome and heavy really need to objectively taste these wines rather than bloviate.
• 98 James Suckling
  The Shafer family has made compelling reds for decades and this one is a knock-out. Fabulous character of currants, mint, spice and wet earth. Juicy and fruity, with an intense chewy finish. September 2014 release. Needs time to age.
• 95 Wine Enthusiast
  The producer's annual, highly anticipated 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, this comes from the wilds of the appellation's rocky hillsides. This is a burly, distinctive and sizable wine, ripe yet refined, having been given three years in barrel and another in bottle before release. Chocolaty tobacco combines with pencil shavings and dense blackberry before finishing in an explosion of black pepper. Gorgeous, it will get even more interesting over time, through 2025.
  Cellar Selection
• 95 Wine Spectator
  Pure, rich and intense, massive and well-built, with wall-to-wall ripe berry, currant, cedar and spice notes, framed by gutsy, chewy tannins and aided by a long, intense, layered finish. Drink now through 2027.
• 93 Connoisseurs' Guide
  Very much as expected, Shafer’s flagship Cabernet is again one of unrestrained power and richness, and it makes no apologies for being very ripe. It is, however, an amazingly rich and layered wine that is far more than a simple study in ripeness. It is plush and full-bodied and as extracted as they come, and given the brilliant, decade’s-long track record of Hillside Select bottlings, we have no doubt whatsoever that great things lie ahead for those willing to give this one the eight to ten years of cellar time that it deserves.