2002 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select
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Tasting notes
Pure perfection in red wine, the 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select is world-class in every way, and it’s such an incredible tasting experience. Still deep ruby/plum-hued, it offers a sensational array of darker currants, truffly earth, camphor, chocolate, and assorted spices to go with a full-bodied, lavish, opulently textured style on the palate. Drinking at point, with both fresh fruit as well as plenty of secondary nuances, it shows the heights Napa Valley Cabernet can hit. It has another two decades of prime drinking, and I suspect a gradual decline after that.
Critic scores
Robert Parker
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
(14.9% alcohol): Good dark red. Perfumed, liqueur-like aromas of black plum, dark berries, licorice and cocoa powder. Dense, thick and very ripe but still a bit youthfully brooding; shows the darkest fruit character to this point in the tasting. This extremely dense, thick, youthfully brooding Cabernet finishes with serious ripe tannins and good medicinal reserve. If the 2001 is claret-like in the context of this bottling, then the 2002 is classic liqueur-like Napa Cabernet, even if it's in a bit of a shell today. Less detailed today than the 2001 but I'd love to try these wines side by side again in six or seven years.
In contrast to the more linear, structured, but massive 2001, the 2002 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select is pure fruit-bomb material, but stunningly proportioned, beautifully pure, with notes of melted chocolate, blackcurrant jam, sweet black cherries, licorice, camphor and charcoal. Very full-bodied, like the 2001, but much more lavishly fruited, it is more accessible and hedonistically, as well as intellectually, satisfying. If the 2001 is the long-distance runner, this comes across more like a middle-distancer. It had performed fabulously well since it was released by the winery, and even though it’s still an adolescent in terms of its evolution, this wine is a head-turner in wine tastings, and a spectacular effort from Napa. Drink now or drink in 20-25 years.
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.