Shafer Hillside Select Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

2018 Hillside Select®

Napa Valley • Stags Leap District

Celebrating 40 vintages of Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon

Hillside Select is a wine of a place, sourced from carefully selected blocks of Stags Leap District hillside vineyards.These grapes are small and deeply colored, with concentrated flavors enhanced by meticulous winemaking and extensive aging in French oak barrels. Hillside Select consistently expresses the voluptuous fruit, rich flavors, and velvety texture that characterize grapes grown in this renown AVA.

“2018 Hillside Select is an enticing balance of opulence and energy. This classic Cabernet Sauvignon fills the glass with vivid aromas of blackberry, black cherry, warm earth, and baking spice. The flavors richly echo the wine’s aromas, adding juicy layers of summer briar fruit, berry compote, cinnamon, lively red and black plums, and mocha with a long, radiant finish. Structured tannins offer the promise of a lengthy, sumptuous tenure in your cellar.” 

Drink now – 19/20 years

— Elias Fernandez, winemaker

Reviews

“Incredible purity and precision, as well as opulence, define the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select … classic 2018 Napa Valley with its purity, freshness and precision as well as sensational concentration and perfectly integrated acidity, tannins, and alcohol. It delivers pleasure today yet warrants a solid 4-5 years of bottle age and is going to be a 30- to 40-year wine.” 100 — Jeb Dunnuck

“ So much black licorice in this, together with tar, blackcurrants, blackberries and slate. Full-bodied, but very toned and focused, with polish and energy. Extremely fine tannins and wonderful length. All about balance and purity. Gorgeous now, but this will age for decades to come. Great finish. Better after 2026.” 99 — James Suckling

“ Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select displays a deep garnet-purple color. It charges out of the gate with bold crème de cassis, blueberry pie and black cherry preserves notes, plus hints of smoked meats, fragrant earth and tar, with a fragrant waft of violets and Provence herbs. Full-bodied, the palate is packed with muscular black fruits, supported by a solid foundation of firm, grainy tannins and compelling freshness, finishing long with an enticing herbal lift.” 98+ — Robert Parker

“… stunning. Bright acids give the 2018 tons of energy … dark blue/purplish fruit, lavender, spice, mint and blood orange build in the glass. Elegant and bright, the 2018 shows all the energy of the year in spades.” 98 — Antonio Galloni, Vinous

Vintage and Production Notes

Release Date: September 1, 2022

Vineyard Location: 100% hillside vineyards in Stags Leap District including Shafer’s estate vineyard blocks Sunspot John’s Upper 7, Venado Ilegal, and Firebreak

The 2018 Growing Season: A lengthy, cool, steady growing season created ideal conditions for the fruit to hang on the vine a long time in the summer sun developing rich color, alluring aromas, and luxuriant flavors.

Varietal Composition: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Brix at Harvest: 24.0° - 26.0°

Cooperage: 32 months in 100% new 60-gallon French oak barrels (Allier and Tronçais)

Alcohol: 15.5%

The Hillside Select Story

Hillside Select is sourced from a collection of 14 small vineyard blocks planted within an eons-old amphitheater-like structure of rock and volcanic soil that surrounds the winery. Thanks to scant soil nutrients and moisture, yields at harvest are meager and the berries are small, about the size of blueberries. This Stags Leap District site’s combination of rugged, arid soil and climate results in lush Cabernet Sauvignon fruit with dark color and intense, classic flavor.

Shafer Vineyards

Shafer Vineyards is a 30,000 case winery in Napa Valley’s Stags Leap District. The Shafer family owns and farms 200 acres of vineyards, sources for Shafer’s Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Malbec, Merlot, Syrah, and Petite Sirah.

Hillside Select comes from a collection of rugged, arid vineyard blocks that surround our winery. We’ve been fortunate to make Cabernet Sauvignon from these rocky, roughhewn hillsides in Stags Leap District since 1978. Year after year this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is a dramatic expression of this ideal site.