1997 Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon
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Tasting notes
An absolute blockbuster of a wine, the 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select is still youthfully purple-hued and has awesome aromatics of sweet currants, minty herbs, tobacco, and lead pencil shavings. This full-bodied, concentrated Hillside Select is cut from the same cloth as the 2002 and is opulent, has sweet, velvety tannins, flawless overall balance, and an incredible finish. It certainly has another 10-15 years of longevity, but this clearly is in its sweet spot in my view. It's another heavenly Cabernet Sauvignon from this talented team that I wish every reader could taste.
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
(14.5% alcohol): Bright saturated ruby to the rim. Brooding blackberry, dark cherry and licorice aromas show both medicinal and superripe aspects. Rather suave and tight-grained on entry, then high-pitched, thick and very sweet--in fact almost liqueur-like--in the middle, conveying a slightly chunky character to its dark fruit and licorice flavors. Huge material here but still a bit unevolved and hard to warm to. I wanted more shape, clarity and elegance but this wine, amazingly, still needs time. Finishes with big, chewy tannins. This bottle was a bit less plush than the one I tasted in 2016 as part of an extensive vertical tasting at Shafer Vineyards but appears to have a considerably longer life ahead of it.
(14.5% alcohol; the crop was big, but Indian summer conditions got everything ripe and the harvest was compressed, noted Doug Shafer): Healthy saturated dark red. Very deep, musky, alluring aromas of roasted plum, dark cherry, nutty oak, mocha, leather and truffle. A seriously outsized Napa Cabernet with a compellingly plush texture but still with a juicy shape to it. This slightly warm wine can't quite match the 1995 for complexity or energy but it makes for a mouthfilling meal substitute. Slightly dusty tannins reach the incisors.
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.