Winemaker Notes
Blend: 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Petite Verdot, 3% Merlot, 2% Malbec
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Dripping-ripe plums and other dark fruits are spun through with aromas of cracked pine and pitch for a complex wine from this Napa icon. Succulent and mouthwatering with melting tannins and a persistent finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon One Point Five is based on 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Petite Verdot, 3% Merlot, and 2% Malbec that was bottled in May of 2024. Tons of juicy red and black berries, incense, new leather, and spicy notes all define the aromatics, and it's medium to full-bodied, has a juicy, elegant mouthfeel, good richness, and outstanding length.
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James Suckling
This bottling brings a slightly lighter aromatic touch to the Shafer reds, with its red cherry and strawberry aromas over a very full body. Broad, ripe and generous red fruit is wrapped in moderate tannins for good structure and some aging potential.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
While the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon One Point Five includes some purchased fruit, the aim is for it to become fully estate once new plantings come into production. It's an incrementally richer, darker and more concentrated wine than Shafer's TD-9, with black cherries wrapped in a subtle cloak of almost ephemeral cedar and vanilla. Full-bodied and velvety textured, with a lingering finish.
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Wine Spectator
Plump and open-knit, with a friendly gush of plum sauce and boysenberry compote flavors coated with sweet toast and licorice on the finish. A subtle graphite edge gives just enough form for balance. Drink now through 2034. 12,000 cases made.
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.