Shafer Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon 2021
- v96-99
- jd97-99
- ws93
Category | Red Wine |
Varietal | |
Brand | Shafer |
Origin | California, Napa Valley, Stags Leap District |
Alcohol/vol | 15.5% |
Other vintages
Winemaker Notes:
The 2021 vintage expresses Hillside Select’s singular elegance, vibrancy, and balance. The aromas lift out of the glass, offering blackberry, cedar, black currant, and just-picked black cherry with graceful floral and leather tones. The complexity of the vintage is striking, merging dark fruit with tobacco, red plum, wet stone, lavender, and black tea. The ripe, seamlessly integrated tannins add depth, precision, and serious structure for decades of aging, all culminating in a long, exquisite finish.
— Shafer Winemaker Elias Fernandez
Vinous
- v96-99
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select is shaping up to be a jewel of a wine. Floral and vibrant, the 2021 sizzles with tension and a level of delineation I don’t remember seeing in the past. Like all the 2021s here, the Hillside Select possesses a notable purity of fruit and exceptional balance. The tannins need to soften a touch, but time should take care of that. I don’t see the opulence or inner sweetness of most years, but that is not a negative at all.
Jeb Dunnuck
- jd97-99
As always, the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon that will spend 28 months in new barrels. Its deep purple hue gives way to a behemoth of a wine that has incredible cassis, black raspberry, and even blue fruits to go with loads of camphor, minty herbs, graphite, and darker chocolate. It's full-bodied, concentrated, yet pure, flawlessly balanced, and has a great finish.
Wine Spectator
- ws93
Juicy and direct, with a solidly built core of cassis and blackberry preserves lined with cocoa, singed tobacco and warm earth hints. Leans toward toasty on the finish, but there's ample fruit. Best from 2025 through 2038. Tasted twice, with consistent notes. 2,900 cases made.