90 points,

Stephen Tanzer's IWC, June 2011

Good full red. Redcurrant, cherry, cedar and rose petal on the nose. Supple, silky and sweet, with an essentially gentle quality to the red fruit flavors. Finishes with suave, fine-grained tannins and very good length. This juicy merlot wears its alcohol gracefully. Winemaker Elias Fernandez used a bit of malbec to add color and broaden the palate.

93 points,

Wine Enthusiast, July 2011

A huge, fruit-packed wine, made in the Shafer style of mass and potency. With 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and lots of new oak, it's explosive in black cherry, cherry liqueur and cedar flavors, with a spicy, salty umami taste, like pepperoni. Give it a decant of several hours. - S.H.

92 points,

Wine Spectator, August 2011

Elegant and focused, with black cherry and toasty oak aromas that lead to supple red currant, spice and herb notes. Finishes with firm but ripe tannins. Drink now through 2016. 7,200 cases made. -TF

About Winery

Shafer Vineyards traces its beginnings to 1972 when John Shafer left a 23-year career in the publishing industry and, with his family, moved to the Napa Valley to pursue a second career in wine. After purchasing a 210-acre estate in Napa Valley's Stags Leap District, the Shafer family faced the arduous task of replanting the existing vineyards, which dated to the 1920s, and terracing the steep and rocky hillsides, eventually expanding vineyard acreage to its current 50 acres.Evolving from grape growers to vintners, the Shafers crushed their first Cabernet grapes in 1978 and began construction on their winery a year later.

The first Shafer Cabernet became a benchmark, winning the acclaimed San Francisco Vintners Club taste-off upon release and, over a decade later taking first place in an international blind tasting held in Germany, where it outranked such wines as Chateau Margaux, Chateau Latour and Chateau Palmer.

Doug Shafer became winemaker in 1983 after graduating from the University of California at Davis with a degree in enology and viticulture. A year later Elias Fernandez joined the winery as assistant winemaker. Together Doug and Elias have worked closely to forge the Shafer style of quality, consistency and elegance.

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