2013 Chardonnay Carneros Red Shoulder Ranch
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Tasting notes
Fresh, ripe, sweet, citrus fruits with a tropical accent and vanilla overtones, forward in style, medium bodied, easy to drink today. 92 Points
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Robert Parker
Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider
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The Chardonnay program from Shafer includes the Red Shoulder Ranch, which is aged 14 months in 75% new French oak and 25% in stainless steel. The 2013 yields wonderfully crisp, rich white peach, honeysuckle and pineapple as well as some crushed rock and floral notes. Medium to full-bodied, it has great acidity and a nice integration of subtle oak. Drink it over the next several years.
The 2013 Chardonnay Red Shoulder Ranch is gorgeous. Lemon oil, white flowers, mint and chamomile meld together in a layered, beautifully expressive Chardonnay endowed with real class and personality. A kick of acidity on the finish keeps the flavors bright and focused throughout. This is a fabulous effort from Shafer. Most of the attention at Shafer falls on the Cabernets, and perhaps rightly so, but the estate has done a commendable job with the Chardonnay in recent years.
Shafer's 2013 Chardonnay Red Shoulder Ranch is quite suave and silky on the palate, with a bit more creaminess and textural depth than the 2012. Citrus, white flowers, mint and smoke are all layered into the super-expressive finish. Winemaker Elias Fernandez adds that yields were a bit more generous in 2013, although conditions were cooler.
About the producer
The site of Shafer has been around since 1880, and grapes continued to be grown here, even during prohibition. It is said that some wine was made here during that time. In 1972, John Shafer bought the property in the Stag’s Leap district, he immediately began planting the Cabernet on the hillside.