• Rating: 98 out of 100
  • Tasting Fee: $75
  • Accepts Reservations: Yes
  • Reservation Required: true

Location

6154 Silverado Trail
Napa, CA 94558

Review

It’s hard for me to recall another winery with as large a production, well-known reputation, but as reclusive from the public eye as Shafer. But I totally understand and appreciate it - especially since we had the whole place to ourselves during our visit. Although the estate appears large and the tasting room is gorgeous, there are actually not many people onsite. Besides ourselves, the Shafer wine educator and the father/son proprietors, I don’t recall seeing anyone else on the property at the time. There were three workers in the field grafting vines, but that’s it.

Many people don’t make it past Stags Leap Cellars (which is also great) when they visit the Stags Leap AVA. Besides driving past the 1976 Judgement of Paris winner for red wines, there are other obstacles to visiting Shafer, such as it’s only open on weekdays and by tasting appointment only. But once you make it there, your realize the journey was well worth it… Quite a number of fantastic wines to taste, fantastic views of the hillside from the winery with grapevines completely surrounding the building, and a great educational experience with a takeaway notebook detailing their wines, origins and process.

Group picture along the gravel road in front of the winery

Harden yourselves before you partake in this tasting, because the pours are generous and these wines will both chip away and melt you at the same time. The tasting menu looks like the following:

  • Red Shoulder Chardonnay (Carneros) ($52)
    • 14 mths in 75% new French Oak. Ripe fruit that produces aromas from floral to tropical. Similar to the Fantesca Chardonnay, this wine is produced without MLF, but undergoes lees aging for 14mths which gives it a great creamy mouthfeel, additional complexity, but without sacrificing the great acidity. The natural yeast (from the grape skins) used for the fermentation also adds to the complexity.
  • TD-9 (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec) ($60)
    • 20 mths in 100% new French Oak. Made with fruit from the southern Vaca Mountains. This wine reminds me a bit of Bordeaux blends, though the use of Merlot and Malbec in greater proportions together is unusual. Again, good fruit and phenolic development while maintaining good acidity and freshness thanks to the cooler southern climate. A good intro to Shafer wines.
  • One Point Five (Cabernet Sauvignon) ($95)
    • 20mths in 100% new French Oak. After graduating from the TD-9, this should be your next wine. Some Hillside Select fruit makes it into this bottle and you can tell it’s the beginning of something special. It hints at some of the secondary/tertiary notes that the Hillside Select is famous for, without overwhelming the senses.
  • Relentless (Syrah and Petit Sirah) ($92)
    • 30 mths in new French Oak. If you want a Syrah to blow you away, this is that wine. Unctuous color and overwhelming body that is still smooth on the palate, with black fruit, smoke, tiny bit of meat juice, some cacao and a long finish. Instead of Relentless, I might have named this wine Shameless, because that’s what it feels like. Everyone in the group purchased at least one bottle of this wine.
  • Hillside Select (Cabernet Sauvignon) ($285)
    • 32 mths in new French Oak. What a wine… And with the pour you get, you could spend 20 minutes just with this wine alone. Volcanic, poor nutrient soil leads half the normal amount of grapes per acre, leading to a wine that is as intense as the Relentless, but more complex flavors than the One Point Five, with great aging potential. Bottle purchases are limited to two per person, so grab as many as you can and prepare for the long haul. You’ll be glad you did!

The converation with our wine guide was also very enjoyable and unhurried - I think we spent 2.5 hours on the property. And although their website limits the number of guests to 8, there is room enough at the table for more - it just gets roudier and harder to hear the wine guide, which is why they like to impose that limit. Not surprisingly though, our group quieted down when we dug into the wines, as if the seriousness of the wines made us serious when tasting them.

Some of their softer rolling hills that make some softer, more rounded wines that can be drunk early

The converation with our wine guide was also very enjoyable and unhurried - I think we spent 2.5 hours on the property. And although their website limits the number of guests to 8, there is room enough at the table for more - it just gets roudier and harder to hear the wine guide, which is why they like to impose that limit. Not surprisingly though, our group quieted down when we dug into the wines, as if the seriousness of the wines made us serious when tasting them.

Some of their rougher hills that make the Hillside Select, an enormous wine that needs so time in the cellar but will reward patience handsomely…

On that note, I think Shafer’s theme is its commitment to producing serious wines that are cerebral, different (see: Relentless), powerful, and moving. We lost track of time and were late to our next appointment because of how touching the wine and scenery were. Wear some nice clothes, because you are going to want to take some pictures on this property. If you are in the area on a weekday, I highly recommend trying to setup an appointment. But be warned, Shafer usually books up 2-4 weeks out, especially Thurs, Fri, and Mon (for good reason). And if you are thinking about becoming a collector or just laying down some bottles for a future special occasion, the Hillside Select is not a bad choice, especially since you’ll likely only be able to buy it when you visit the winery and it’s limited to 2 per person.
Rating: 98 out of 100