This has turned out to be one of the finest wines from this austere, tough-textured vintage. Although it exhibits some hard tannin in the finish, it is not excessive. This is a youthful, subdued, impressively-endowed wine with a multi-layered, cassis fruitiness, good spice, excellent purity (a characteristic of all the Shafer Hillside Select Cabernets), and fine balance and length. While it will remain a narrowly-constructed wine, it is not light or insubstantial. This is an authoritatively-flavored, rich, structured California Cabernet Sauvignon that should hit its peak by the end of the century and last for another 20 years. A sleeper!

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Still firm and intense, with complex earthy mineral, currant, anise, cedar, tar and slightly nutty flavors, it's a big, muscular wine with ample tannins.--1989 California Cabernet retrospective. 2,000 cases made.

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