Shafer Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon 2003

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Starting at: $253^.80

22 Reviews

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Winery:

Shafer Vineyard Cellars

Varietal:

Cabernet Sauvignon

Region:

USA > California > Napa

Type:

Red Wine

Color:

Drink Dates:

Drink Now - 2020

UPC:

 

User Tags:  dense, black cherry, spicy, rich, resinous, berry, color descriptors, oak - heavy, licorice, fruit 

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What to Expect

California's Napa Valley has been a source of world-class Cabernet Sauvignon for well over a century. Its warm climate and varied terrain allows for many styles of wine. One thread that runs through almost all the Cabernet based wines from Napa is their lush, ripe full-bodied feel and rich flavors of currant and berry. Wines from the valley floor, particularly around Rutherford, are famed for a dusty quality and those coming from the hillsides surrounding the valley, Mt. Veeder, Diamond Mountain and Howell Mountain for example, tend to be a little leaner with more obvious structural elements.

Winemakers Notes

Hillside Select is made of 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon fruit sourced from rugged hillside vineyard blocks on our Stags Leap District Estate. Truly a “wine of a place,” this Cabernet exemplifies the extraordinary richness and suppleness consistently produced in our little valley within a valley.

Winemaker’s notes
Shafer’s hillside vineyard produced a 2003 harvest of small, dark berries loaded with ripe, immense aromas and flavors. The aromas are rich and perfumy and the youthful wine fills the mouth with rich cassis, blackberry, toasty vanilla, mocha, read more...herbs, and a seamless integration of soft, ripe Stags Leap District tannins. The wine feels expansive and juicy in the mouth and the flavors linger long after the glass is empty. – Elias Fernandez

Hillside Select is aged a full four years prior to release (three years in Alliers and Tronçais oak barrels and one year in the bottle). While enjoyable today, this wine will gain richness and maturity with up to 20 years of careful cellaring.

Its dense purple color is followed by aromas of camphor, black currants, licorice, crushed rocks, and white flowers ... full-bodied, powerful and enormously endowed … Impeccable balance, purity, and length suggest it will drink well for 20 – 25 years.    (hide)

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