{"product_id":"shafer-hillside-select-cabernet-sauvignon-stags-leap-district-2018-750ml","title":"Shafer - Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon Stags Leap District 2021 (750ml)","description":"\u003cp\u003eWinemaker Notes\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProfessional Ratings\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e99 Decanter\u003cbr\u003eAged 32 months in 100% new French oak. It is quintessentially Stags Leap, with grapes grown on Shafer's famous Hillside estate vineyard, roughly 25ha, with very shallow volcanic tufa soils. It's a barrel selection of the very best blocks. A total of 2,900 cases were produced. Such a beautifully balanced wine with tremendous staying power and expressive Stags Leap ironstone minerality with heady sagebrush and conifer notes with white pepper and walnut husk. The wine has an impressive depth of red-toned fruit on the mid-palate framed by tannins that practically dance across the palate, exuding length, tension, and power. Huckleberry and black cherry fruits, black truffle, dried violets, graphite, and salted dark chocolate are all framed by racy acidity, which keeps everything fresh and lifted. The 2021 releases mark Elias Fernandez's 38th vintage as Shafer's winemaker. He was hired by John Shafer in 1984, two weeks out of UC Davis.\u003cbr\u003e99 Vinous\u003cbr\u003eThe 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select is insanely beautiful. It's also one of the very finest wines I have ever tasted here. Bright, pliant and resonant, the 2021 offers a beguiling mix of Cabernet Sauvignon aromatics, generous fruit and gentle structure. The stylistic shift at Shafer has been remarkable—the 2021 is a great example. Red-toned fruit, blood orange, menthol, pine and sweet spice build into the eternal finish.\u003cbr\u003e99 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll Cabernet Sauvignon from specific hillside blocks on the estate, Shafer's 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select spent 28 months in 100% new French oak. It's a big, ripe wine, weighing in at 15.5% alcohol, but it remains harmonious from front to back. Deep, intense aromas of black cherries and cassis are accented by dried spices on the nose, while the full-bodied palate is rich and textural, showing tremendous intensity and length on the finish.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e99 James Suckling\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIncredibly ripe, delicious and structured, this age-worthy, collectible wine puts a lot of power in a velvety, refined package. Deep, concentrated black cherries, blackberries, dried blueberries, espresso and creme de cassis are wrapped in a full body and fine-grained, supple tannins strong enough to call for further aging of at least a few years. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e98 Jeb Dunnuck\u003cbr\u003eYou can safely put the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select up with the top vintages of this cuvée, yet it's much more in the style of say, the 2010 or 2018, than a more opulent year, and is going to demand bottle age. Sensational amounts of cassis, graphite, darker chocolate, graphite, tobacco, and a Pauillac-like lead pencil character all define this ultra-classic, focused, structured 2021 that has a slightly more focused, seamless style than normal. The purity is world class, and it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a deep, layered mouthfeel, sweet yet building tannins, and a blockbuster of a finish. Hide bottles for 5-7 years minimum, and it will evolve for 40+ years.\u003cbr\u003eRating: 98+\u003cbr\u003e97 Wine Enthusiast\u003cbr\u003eProfound and full-bodied with an intensity of aromas and flavors, this sophisticated and ample Cabernet Sauvignon has become one of the region's icons. Made from the Shafer's hillside vineyards, this red carries a core of dark fruits, crushed rocks, and savory elements of mushroom followed aromas of aromatic forest. Abundant, fine tannins and a lengthy finish mean the wine will continue to develop with age, but will also benefit from another several years in bottle. Enjoy with prime rib or another cut of succulent meat. Enjoy.\u003cbr\u003e93 Wine Spectator\u003cbr\u003eJuicy 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Shafer","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43446126149856,"sku":"109513","price":399.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0649\/9713\/0464\/products\/shafer-hillside-select-cabernet-sauvignon-stags-leap-district_90941225-92eb-46ad-a97e-3b374a8f63ad.jpg?v=1664305297","url":"https:\/\/www.mywineconnection.com\/products\/shafer-hillside-select-cabernet-sauvignon-stags-leap-district-2018-750ml","provider":"My Wine Connection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}