Shafer TD-9 2016
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Winemaker Notes
This second vintage of TD-9 offer bright, energetic aromas and flavors of red plum, raspberry, strawberry, spice box, exotic fruit, and red licorice. The momentum of all this enticing fruit, alongwith ripe tannins, is carried through to a long, tantalizing, feast of a finish.
Blend: 58% Merlot, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Malbec
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
The winery's proprietary blend of 58% Merlot, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon and 16% Malbec is hugely impressive and memorable, with a smoky, toasted oak character. Plush flavors of blackberry and cherry jam meld with spice on the rich, round midpalate. It offers plenty of grip and concentration, finishing on a handful of dried herb.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Red Blend TD-9 is blended of 58% Merlot, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon and 16% Malbec. It has a very deep purple-black color and displays ready-for-biz, fragrant scents of warm plums, Black Forest cake and blueberry compote with touches of baking spices, bay leaves and potpourri. Full-bodied with a serious, firm frame of ripe, grainy tannins, the palate delivery loads of black fruit and spicy layers with bags of vivacity and panache.
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Tasting Panel
Our favorite “tractor” wine, this proprietary blend of 58% Merlot, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 16% Malbec was named for John Shafer’s transition from commuter train to farm vehicle. This is the second vintage, and we think it’s even better than the frst. Aromas of ripe strawberry and cinnamon rolls launch exuberantly from the glass as meaty notes and dry, dusty tannins emphasize favors of sassafras, spearmint, licorice, and plum. Lean acidity shows in the structured, upright body.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Leading off the reds, the 2016 TD-9 checks in as 58% Merlot, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 16% Malbec and is a cuvée first made in 2015. Revealing considerable elegance and purity as well as medium to full-bodied richness, it offers up a terrific bouquet of black cherry and blackberry fruits, tobacco, lavender, and an alluring forest floor character. It’s already drinking beautifully yet will keep for upwards of a decade.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2016 Shafer TD-9 Red Blend speaks well of the Napa Valley. TASTING NOTES: This wine is nicely-built and bright from the start to the end. Pair its aromas and flavors of black fruits, a shading of leaves, and earthy notes with grilled beef dishes. (Tasted: October 17, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine & Spirits
A selection from three of Shafer’s estate vineyards, this red emphasizes merlot (58 percent), blended with cabernet sauvignon and malbec. The wine’s tannins gained suppleness through 20 months in new French oak barrels while sustaining a bright, brisk note above the dark, tobacco-scented richness. It’s nuanced and layered, a wine to pour with tender cuts of beef.
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Robert
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Jeb
Dunnuck -
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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.
Undoubtedly proving its merit over and over, Napa Valley is a now a leading force in the world of prestigious red wine regions. Though Cabernet Sauvignon dominates Napa Valley, other red varieties certainly thrive here. Important but often overlooked include Merlot and other Bordeaux varieties well-regarded on their own as well as for their blending capacities. Very old vine Zinfandel represents an important historical stronghold for the region and Pinot noir is produced in the cooler southern parts, close to the San Pablo Bay.
Perfectly situated running north to south, the valley acts as a corridor, pulling cool, moist air up from the San Pablo Bay in the evenings during the hot days of the growing season, which leads to even and slow grape ripening. Furthermore the valley claims over 100 soil variations including layers of volcanic, gravel, sand and silt—a combination excellent for world-class red wine production.