1992 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select
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Tasting notes
Harvested between 24 and 25 brix, the 1992 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select is incredible and shows the richness, depth, and opulence that make this cuvée so special. Full-bodied aromas and flavors of cassis, saddle leather, graphite, and sandalwood are just some of its nuances, and this beauty has resolved tannins, terrific balance, and a great finish. It’s going to hold in its current stage for another decade, and I suspect it will have a gradual decline after that.
Critic scores
Robert Parker
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
(13.5% alcohol; from a warm year; beginning with this vintage): Good medium red. Fully evolved aromas of plum, spices, leather, herbs and truffley underbrush. Nicely juicy but a bit less pliant than the 1991, even a touch tart. Ultimately a narrower style of Cabernet in spite of the warm vintage. Without quite the sweet core of the 1991, these tannins come off as a bit tough, even dry. I'd drink this nicely concentrated but slightly pinched wine soon.
The 1992 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select is another killer wine boasting a dense purple color as well as a gorgeous bouquet of crème de cassis, creosote, camphor, licorice, blackberries and subtle background oak, and full-bodied, heady flavors. It is clear that after 1991, the Shafers and Elias Fernandez were entering a dramatic new level of quality as the Hillside Select cuvée had become a world-class effort. This beauty is just becoming fully drinkable and should continue to provide immense enjoyment over the next 20 years.
Good deepish crimson. Fragrant. Perhaps more appetising than the 1991 – on the nose, anyway. Lovely balance. Very, very ripe. Perhaps slightly drier and lighter. Lovely balance. Complete ripeness. More austere than many. Racy. (JR)