2003 Shafer, Hillside Select, Stags Leap District 1x750ml

Vinous 89

(13.5% alcohol): Good dark red. The nose conveys an herbaceous element not shown by the 2002 or 2001, offering scents of plum, milk chocolate, tobacco leaf and wild herbs; I might have picked this blind as Merlot. Thick and chunky on the palate but slightly angular. I find this concentrated wine a bit medicinal, even brutal, on the back end. Suggests a wide range of ripeness. Following a disrupted flowering, the estate did a lot of vineyard work to attempt to even out the ripeness. "But we had too much canopy for too little fruit and had to pick quickly during warm conditions at the end," noted Doug Shafer. [Stephen Tanzer, 01/07/2016]

Anticipated maturity: 2016-2023

Robert Parker 100

One of the great so-called “first growths” of Napa is Shafer’s 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon from their Stags Leap vineyard known as Hillside Select. This has been one of the top dozen or so wines in every vintage for over 15 years. A big wine at 14.9% alcohol, it is aged an atypically long time of 32 months in 100% new French oak, but at ten years of age, no oak is present. It is an utterly perfect wine, surpassing almost everything else made in 2003! It possesses everything one could desire in a Cabernet Sauvignon – minerality, flowers, creme de cassis, blackberries, velvety tannins, a skyscraper texture, perfect balance and integration between the acidity, tannin, alcohol and wood, all well-concealed by the luxurious nature of this great wine. The finish is endless in this prodigious offering from a great family of grape growers and winemakers. It proves the point that good guys can finish first. This 2003 should continue to drink well for 25-30 years. [Robert Parker, 06/01/2013]

Anticipated maturity: 2013-2043