Shafer (4.69)





Open: Monday-Friday; tastings at 10am and 2pm only.

Appt required? Yes

Last barlinwine.com visit: 2012 (May 15, 2012 Itinerary)

Directions:

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Tasting:
One of my goals of my May trip to wine country was to hit a number of the places I’d avoided with larger groups due to tasting costs. Shafer fit the bill. Surprisingly, I’d never had their famous Hillside Select Cabernet, but I obviously knew them based on reputation. Other than that, I had no idea what to expect.

The tasting started promptly at 2pm with a stroll into the production facility and a glimpse at the bottling line. Doug Shafer, president of the winery and the winemaker up until 1994, happened to be passing through and greeted us warmly as we entered the facility. This was just the start, though. My timing was extremely fortunate – I happened to be there on one of the three days they were packaging all of their 2009 Shafer Hillside Select.

As finished bottles of the Hillside Select rolled down a conveyor belt, teams of workers assembled the 6-bottle wood crates that would carry it to its lucky recipients. Like many assembly lines, this was a well-oiled machine and fun to see. We were just getting started. A short, dark-haired man approached me with a bottle. Into my glass went a healthy pour of 2009 Hillside Select. The man who poured it? Elias Fernandez, head winemaker since 1994 and with the winery working side-by-side with Doug Shafer since 1984.

After this stellar start, I assumed the rest of the tasting wouldn’t stand up, but I was wrong. We returned to the tasting room for a seated tasting of 5 wines, already poured and waiting for us (and hefty pours, I might add). Along with the wines, a spiral-bound, 44-page booklet provided all of the information you might care to know about the wines and the winery, along with space for us to take notes along the way. Our hostess Andrea provided stories and commentary on each wine as we worked our way through the tasting.

And let’s not forget the wines! We started with Shafer’s 2010 Chardonnay. No malolactic fermentation on this wine, but it still offered a nice creamy finish without being too buttery. We then tried the 2009 Merlot, a solid effort, and the 2009 Shafer “One Point Five”. What does One Point Five mean? You can watch the video on their website that explains it, but in a nutshell it refers to father John Shafer and his son Doug. Doug came on as winemaker in 1983, four years after the first Shafer vintage, and so it has been a joint effort from almost the beginning. Unlike a traditional family business where the first generation hands an established business over to the second generation, they like to refer to their teamwork from the start as a “generation-and-a-half” partnership, or “One Point Five”. This Cabernet is predominantly sourced from the Hillside Estate Vineyards, as well as from their “Borderline” vineyard, and was quite good. Given the shared fruit, this is also a great entry point for folks interested in Hillside Select (but less interested in its price tag).

Our fourth wine was the 2008 Relentless, a blend of 80% Syrah and 20% Petite Sirah and is named in honor of winemaker Elias Fernandez’s relentless pursuit of perfection. It was delicious and recently was awarded 96 points from the Wine Advocate.

Naturally, at Shafer, they save their best wine and flagship for last. I got a preview of the wine with my taste of the 2009 Hillside Select along the bottling line, but we now tried the 2008. This was a great wine, but not mind-blowing. With a price tag over $200, my expectations were extremely high, and I’m not sure that it’s three times better than the One Point Five. I certainly don’t think it’s twice as good as a Larkmead Solari or Lewis Reserve Cabernet. That being said, it’s an iconic wine, and it was a treat to be able to try it.

I assumed at this point we’d be done, but as a surprise at the end of the tasting, Andrea poured a sample of their Firebreak Cabernet Port paired with chocolate truffles. Doug came back in with a furry welcoming committee (Cody, his Golden Retriever), to put the cherry on top of this visit.

The reservation process was a bit stuffy (charging the credit card, cancellation penalties, etc.) but I couldn’t have been happier with this visit. I know getting to meet both Doug Shafer and Elias Fernandez is the exception rather than the rule, but this was a very classy operation and well worth the $45 tasting fee. Highly recommended.


Recommended wine:I thought everything was quite good, honestly. Factoring in price, I'd point people to the Relentless and the One Point Five.

Ratings (out of 5):


WINE
4.75
TASTING ROOM
5.00

ATMOSPHERE
4.75
VALUE
4.25

OVERALL
4.69

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