Shafer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select 1998

95/100 PP

"The 1998 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select was produced during a challenging vintage in Napa Valley with an incredible heat wave in mid-July, with temperatures at the Hillside Select property hitting an astonishing 114 degrees. This was brutal for the grapes, but a strict selection, and as Doug and John Shafer said, “We make no excuses at this winery.” Certainly, this was one of the great successes in this vintage. Very tiny yields from small, rather shriveled berries produced a super-extracted, rich, intense wine that has some smokey barbecue notes along with blackcurrants, cedar wood, wet rocks and background oak and burning embers. There's almost a Graves-like, scorched earth character to this vintage. This medium to full-bodied wine is intense and undeniably one of the top ten wines in Napa Valley. Moreover, it should continue to drink well for another 10-15 years."
(Robert M. Parker, Jr., robertparker.com)

96/100 WT

"Shafer Hillside Select war 2008 auf der American Beauty ein weicher, sehr fruchtiger, ungemein schmelziger Wein, der auf der Zunge tänzelte. Sehr würzig mit gerösteter Brotkruste, Kaffee und Schokolade, in diesem Jahr die Comtesse aus Kalifornien - 96/100. 2010 ein Charmeur mit reifer Frucht, Brombeere und etwas balsamischen Noten, am Gaumen mit guter Struktur, eher schlank und fein, für das Jahr aber gut gelungen und sicher noch mit längerer Zukunft – 92/100. 2017 mit saftiger Frucht großer trinkspaß auf hohem Niveau mit Zukunft – WT96."
(Achim Becker, wineterminator.com)