2001 Shafer, Hillside Select, Stags Leap District 1x6L

Robert Parker 100

The 2001 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select is the first of these back-to-back perfect wines from Shafer that, at age 13, is still a baby, but, wow, what an amazing wine. A fabulous growing season produced a wine with inky/purple black color, stunning creme de cassis notes, with additional hints of lead pencil shavings, spring flowers, cedar wood and forest floor. It is full-bodied, sensationally concentrated, with a seamless integration of acidity, tannin, wood and alcohol. This is a great, monumental Napa Cabernet Sauvignon that is still an infant, at age 13, going on 14. This has got at least three decades of life left in it, and probably won’t hit its peak for another 5-7 years. [31/08/2014]

Anticipated maturity: 2019-2045

Vinous 95+

(14.9% alcohol): Good dark red. Knockout nose captures the site’s full aromatic range: plum, blackcurrant, dried sage, licorice, dark chocolate, musky tobacco, game, lead pencil and tar. Superconcentrated and impressively dense and thick but still held in check by a compelling juiciness; this wine wants to explode! The red fruit and plum flavors are complicated by graphite minerality and cedary oak. Finishes with serious, thick tannins that are totally supported by the wine’s mid-palate material. The very long, vibrant finish suggests a long life ahead. A great vintage for Hillside Select, and still improving. [Stephen Tanzer, 07/01/2016]

Anticipated maturity: 2018-2029