Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
The 2000 Firebreak (94% Sangiovese and 6% Cabernet Sauvignon; 14.8% alcohol) is surprisingly light in the mouth, revealing crisp, tart, strawberry fruit along with a hint of new saddle leather in a medium-bodied, straightforward format. Drink this dark ruby-colored 2000 over the next 2-4 years. Tel. (707) 944-2877; Fax (707) 944-9454
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
(sangiovese with 6% cabernet sauvignon) Good dark red. Scented aromas of raspberry, cherry and rose petal. A bit more taut in the middle palate than the 2000 merlot, with floral, milk chocolate and spicy oak notes. Tannins are a bit dry today, but then this was bottled just three weeks before my visit (previous vintages were bottled after just 14 months). Here, too, the 2001 seemed a tad denser, with the tannins perhaps a bit finer.
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.