Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Aged 32 months in 100% new French oak. It is quintessentially Stags Leap, with grapes grown on Shafer's famous Hillside estate vineyard, roughly 25ha, with very shallow volcanic tufa soils. It's a barrel selection of the very best blocks. A total of 2,900 cases were produced. Such a beautifully balanced wine with tremendous staying power and expressive Stags Leap ironstone minerality with heady sagebrush and conifer notes with white pepper and walnut husk. The wine has an impressive depth of red-toned fruit on the mid-palate framed by tannins that practically dance across the palate, exuding length, tension, and power. Huckleberry and black cherry fruits, black truffle, dried violets, graphite, and salted dark chocolate are all framed by racy acidity, which keeps everything fresh and lifted. The 2021 releases mark Elias Fernandez's 38th vintage as Shafer's winemaker. He was hired by John Shafer in 1984, two weeks out of UC Davis.
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James Suckling
Incredibly ripe, delicious and structured, this age-worthy, collectible wine puts a lot of power in a velvety, refined package. Deep, concentrated black cherries, blackberries, dried blueberries, espresso and creme de cassis are wrapped in a full body and fine-grained, supple tannins strong enough to call for further aging of at least a few years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
All Cabernet Sauvignon from specific hillside blocks on the estate, Shafer's 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select spent 28 months in 100% new French oak. It's a big, ripe wine, weighing in at 15.5% alcohol, but it remains harmonious from front to back. Deep, intense aromas of black cherries and cassis are accented by dried spices on the nose, while the full-bodied palate is rich and textural, showing tremendous intensity and length on the finish.
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Vinous
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select is insanely beautiful. It's also one of the very finest wines I have ever tasted here. Bright, pliant and resonant, the 2021 offers a beguiling mix of Cabernet Sauvignon aromatics, generous fruit and gentle structure. The stylistic shift at Shafer has been remarkable—the 2021 is a great example. Red-toned fruit, blood orange, menthol, pine and sweet spice build into the eternal finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
You can safely put the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select up with the top vintages of this cuvée, yet it's much more in the style of say, the 2010 or 2018, than a more opulent year, and is going to demand bottle age. Sensational amounts of cassis, graphite, darker chocolate, graphite, tobacco, and a Pauillac-like lead pencil character all define this ultra-classic, focused, structured 2021 that has a slightly more focused, seamless style than normal. The purity is world class, and it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a deep, layered mouthfeel, sweet yet building tannins, and a blockbuster of a finish. Hide bottles for 5-7 years minimum, and it will evolve for 40+ years.
Rating: 98+ -
Wine Enthusiast
Profound and full-bodied with an intensity of aromas and flavors, this sophisticated and ample Cabernet Sauvignon has become one of the region's icons. Made from the Shafer's hillside vineyards, this red carries a core of dark fruits, crushed rocks, and savory elements of mushroom followed aromas of aromatic forest. Abundant, fine tannins and a lengthy finish mean the wine will continue to develop with age, but will also benefit from another several years in bottle. Enjoy with prime rib or another cut of succulent meat. Enjoy.
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Wine Spectator
Juicy and direct, with a solidly built core of cassis and blackberry preserves lined with cocoa, singed tobacco and warm earth hints. Leans toward toasty on the finish, but there's ample fruit. Best from 2025 through 2038. Tasted twice, with consistent notes.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Legend has it that quick and nimble stags would escape the indigenous hunters of southern Napa Valley through the landmark palisades that sit just northeast of the current city of Napa. As a result, the area was given the name, Stags Leap. While its grape-growing history dates back to the mid-1800s, winemaking didn’t really take off until the mid-1970s after a small but pivotal blind tasting called the Judgement of Paris.
When a 1973 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon won first place against its high-profile Bordeaux contenders, like Chateau Mouton Rothschild and Chateau Haut-Brion, international attention to the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley escalated rapidly.
The vineyards in this one-of-a-kind wine growing region receive hot afternoon air reflecting off of its eastern palisade formation. In combination with the cool evening breezes from the San Pablo Bay just south, this becomes an optimal environment for grape growing. While many varieties could thrive here, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot dominate with virtually no others, save for a spot or two of Syrah.
Stags Leap soils—eroded volcanic and old river sediments—encourage well established root systems and result in complex, terroir-driven wines. Stags Leap District reds have a distinct sour cherry and black berry character with baking spice and dried earth aromas, and supple tannins.