Winemaker Notes
Shafer’s single-vineyard Carneros-grown Chardonnay is produced from small-clustered clones of grapes selected for their low yields and distinctive flavors. Fermentation takes place within individual oak and stainless steel barrels using native yeasts. The wine matures on the lees for 14 months and since it undergoes no malolactic fermentation this Chardonnay retains a lively natural acidity. The vineyard is named for its Red-shouldered Hawks and other birds of prey, who play an important role in Shafer’s sustainable farming practices.
The 2016 offers alluring, energetic aromas and flavors of honeysuckle, kiwi, apricot, citrus zest, pineapple, and toasted almond – a dazzling, juicy bowl of exotic fruit held together with flinty structure, pleasing minerality, and refreshing acidity.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
While the reds get all the attention from this great estate, they also make a sensational Chardonnay. Their 2017 Chardonnay Red Shoulder Ranch comes from the cooler Carneros region, located in the southern part of Napa Valley, and it offers a full-bodied, rich, powerful style that carries loads of white currant and peach fruits as well subtle floral and brioche notes. It’s a classic Napa Valley Chardonnay that blends power and freshness.
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Tasting Panel
Smooth with crisp, juicy citrus; mellow, balanced, and long. The complex palate is layered with vanilla, toast, and sweet hints of new oak.
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Wine Enthusiast
A perennial powerhouse white, this delivers gorgeously constructed layers of rich pineapple, guava and mango, complemented by vanilla and baking spice from the oak. A steely midpalate shows bright acidity that lifts the concentration.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Chardonnay Red Shoulder Ranch is a little closed to begin, revealing notions of warm apricots, apple tart and poached pears plus suggestions of pie crust, crystallized ginger and marzipan. Medium to full-bodied, the palate delivers a racy line cutting through the intense flavors, finishing long and creamy.
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Wine Spectator
Sleek, spicy and well-structured, with fresh-cut green apple and lemon-lime flavors supported by crisp acidity. Rich and savory on the fresh finish. Drink now through 2023.
Shafer Vineyards has produced classic Napa Valley wines for more than 40 years.
Shafer’s wines, including its signature Cabernet Sauvignon, Hillside Select, are found in collectors’ cellars and on wine lists in top luxury hotels and restaurants throughout the world.
The vineyard and cellar teams, led by winemaker Elias Fernandez, cultivate more than 200 acres of Shafer-owned vineyards, sources for the winery's celebrated Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay, TD-9, One Point Five, Relentless, and Hillside Select.
The winery has a decades-long commitment to sustainability. Beginning in the 1980s Shafer embraced farming techniques that eliminate insecticides and herbicides, and carefully conserve water resources. In 2004 Shafer became the first winery in the U.S. to go 100% solar.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
Known for elegant wines that combine power and finesse, Carneros is set in the rolling hills that straddle the southernmost parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties. The cooling winds from the abutting San Pablo Bay, combined with lots of midday California sunshine, create an ideal environment for producing wines with a perfect balance of crisp acidity and well-ripened fruit.
This cooler pocket of California lends itself to growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. Carneros is an important source of sparkling wines made in the style of Champagne as well.