Description

Critical Acclaim

100 points Wine Advocate, Review Date: 12/2014

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 crème 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… (RP)

98 points Wine Enthusiast, Review Date: 12/2005

No Cabernet smells better. This is an enormously attractive, well-oaked wine constituted from the best possible fruit. In the mouth, it immediately seduces. Shafer knows it has to rise to expectations with this wine, and the 2001 does not disappoint. The fruit is spectacular, all cassis. The oak is rich, flamboyant and delicious. Structurally, the wine has the best tannin-acid structure Napa is capable of. *Cellar Selection*

96 points Vinous, Review Date: 04/2023

The 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select is in the zone today. Rich and sumptuous, the 2001 possesses notable depth and layers of flavor that build effortlessly. The first signs of aromatic maturity have begun to appear and the tannins are pretty soft, and yet the 2001 has enough depth to drink well for another decade. Hints of tobacco, cedar, worn-in leather and crushed autumn leaves linger. Doug Shafer and longtime winemaker Elias Fernandez told me they dropped quite a bit of fruit to bring the vineyard into balance during what was a long, cool growing season with extended hang time. (AG)

96 points Wine Spectator, Review Date: 10/2011

Amazing for its richness, depth and concentration, with a wealth of flavors extending to espresso bean, mocha, dark berry, raspberry and cedar, intense and persistent on the long, detailed finish. An immense wine that’s gracefully balanced. (JL)