Photo courtesy of Shafer Vineyards

Shafer Hillside Select Vertical
Plus Red Shoulder Ranch and One Point Five

Shafer Vineyards in Stag’s Leap District is one of Napa Valley’s iconic properties that helped put Napa Valley on the worldwide wine lovers map. 

The vineyards date back to the late 1800s when the first European settlers started the first wine boom in Napa Valley with some earning gold medals for their wines in the 1889 Paris Exposition. Luckily these vineyards survived prohibition, and in 1972 John Shafer purchased these lands and established Shafer Vineyards. The 1970s saw these vineyards replanted and grafted over to Cabernet Sauvignon laying the foundation that would provide the fundamental high quality Cabernet Sauvignon that Doug Shafer and Elias Fernandez would farm and harvest to produce the famous Hillside Select. 

From the 1980s on, Robert Parker, the Wine Spectator and countless scores of wine press would be lauding continued praise on this exceptional bottling of Cabernet Sauvignon that became a benchmark and icon that stood alongside Mondavi’s To-Kalon Reserve and Beaulieu’s Georges de Latour Private Reserve.

Today, Shafer Vineyards continues to build upon the legacy, turning out wines that are just as good, if not better than those early years that garnered so much attention. The Hillside Select is a perennial top scorer of any vintage, racking up 99 point and perfect scores seemingly with ease. This is one of the most quintessential 100% Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons produced and one that has proven the ability to blossom with time in the cellar. 

Cheers,
Jeremy