Shafer Hillside Select

[Jim_Clary]

@AlexS

@Paul Jaouen

I love vintages prior to '94 and this was probably my favorite high-end cab. Then they started getting bigger, bolder, more syrupy and I really couldn’t differentiate from any of the other high-end cabs. I think '94 or '95 is the last vintage I bought.

Have you tried Scarecrow?

[Paul_Jaouen]

Jay, after reading your post I went to look at TNs on the 2007 thinking that maybe since I had stopped buying this wine, Shafer might have pulled back again. This is a sampling of the last dozen or so notes. Based on this I don’t think it will be up my alley. Some of these less than complimentary notes had high scores to go with them so others do enjoy the style.

• I love SHS but not this one. It is a super hot, super concentrated mess, relatively speaking given its price

• This was the bi-polar wine. It starts all deep and lovely and soft with a touch of blackberry and maybe some other black fruits and then WHAM - it’s grape brandy in a glass which usurps all other flavors

• Brought to the Charleston Cult Cab tasting. It was 5th in the line up of the Cult Cabs. The heat on this wine had knocked it down for us

• i get strong vanilla and heavy alcohol. in the mouth, maple, whisky barrel, and heat. an unmitigated disaster and frankly undrinkable. And others (though not all) were in agreement.

• It was so substantial, we could only sip it and so for a dinner for two it lasted the whole dinner and into desert

• Wine was dark, thick, and almost a syrupy feel.

[Steve_Saxon]

I liked the most recent note from the guy who scored it 98 pts.

One of the most amazing wines I have had ever. Just popped and poured. Wine was dark, thick, and ALMOST A SYRUP FEEL.

[jflegler]

@Jay Carroll

Had the 07 and 08 within the last year…nothing “Parkerized” about these wines whatsoever.

15.5% alcohol argues it might be

[Joe_B]

Is this just the 2012 caymus on steroids then?

Does any wine with high alcohol content = parkerized or that plus a Parker 100?

[mike_pobega]

Joe, try the wine for yourself. Best advice.

[jflegler]

@mike pobega

Joe, try the wine for yourself. Best advice.

try if someone opens one and offers? fine…buy it? maybe not the best advice

I usually try and look at the cost of replacing the funds spent when buying an expensive wine for experimentation…here we have $250 for the juice, another $20 or so for tax, reportedly another $40 shipping if he orders just one bottle…that gets you to $310…but still need to add back the income taxes paid…if buyer is in approx 35% income tax bracket, he/she has to earn $475 to replace the funds spent on the wine

that calculation usually tempers my curiosity

[andy_velebil]

@M.Kaplan

@Steve Saxon

Like most good wines, this too has become Parkerized.

Unfortunately, I believe this to be true. 2001 was the last vintage that I loved. 2002 was the beginning of the end for me. 2003 and beyond are not to my liking. YMMV.

Agree. the older ones were very good. The newer style is not my style.

[Ed_Gonzales]

@andy velebil

@M.Kaplan

@Steve Saxon

Like most good wines, this too has become Parkerized.

Unfortunately, I believe this to be true. 2001 was the last vintage that I loved. 2002 was the beginning of the end for me. 2003 and beyond are not to my liking. YMMV.

Agree. the older ones were very good. The newer style is not my style.

+1. 01 along with 99 was by far my favorite vintages.

[rick_m]

been on their list for years…i think their mailing list is very fair. you will get offer up to 6 plus 1 mag every year as long as you buy at least one bottle.
as many has stated, you might be able to pick some off vintage for lower price point…however such as '01, '02 or upcoming '12 which all got 100pts only way to secure it for release price is via mailing list. specially if you want mag
btw…shafer hillside and regular shafer are different mailing list all together.

[Joe_B]

I signed up for both not knowing.

I just looked up Binnys and sure enough they have 2008/2009 SHS for $250. Plus tax. But no $40 shipping. I may go that route at this point.

Hart Davis hart has the 2009 for $220.

[Chris_Seiber]

@andy velebil

@M.Kaplan

@Steve Saxon

Like most good wines, this too has become Parkerized.

Unfortunately, I believe this to be true. 2001 was the last vintage that I loved. 2002 was the beginning of the end for me. 2003 and beyond are not to my liking. YMMV.

Agree. the older ones were very good. The newer style is not my style.

Or maybe the newer ones just aren’t old enough yet? Always a tough question to answer, and the answer varies from one wine and vintage to another.

To the original question, find a bottle or two at retail or auction. You can skip paying the premium for the vintages that scored highest and are most expensive, and just find a pretty good vintage with 10-20 years on it, and see what you think. I’ve always liked the wines, not quite loved them, but you can see what you think while you contemplate whether to get on the list or not.

I think the only benefits to being on the list instead of buying at retail are (1) you won’t pay a markup in some future vintage when it gets 100 points and the price goes up, (2) you can visit there and not pay a fee, and (3) if you want ease of buying year after year and accumulating it. But just to get a few bottles here and there to drink, just look for good prices at retail, cross reference against CT notes, and off you go.

[Robert_Pavlovich]

@Paul Jaouen

I love vintages prior to '94 and this was probably my favorite high-end cab. Then they started getting bigger, bolder, more syrupy and I really couldn’t differentiate from any of the other high-end cabs. I think '94 or '95 is the last vintage I bought.

Same impression for me after '02…and especially '06 and after.

[Tim_Thomas]

@jflegler

I usually try and look at the cost of replacing the funds spent when buying an expensive wine for experimentation…here we have $250 for the juice, another $20 or so for tax, reportedly another $40 shipping if he orders just one bottle…that gets you to $310…but still need to add back the income taxes paid…if buyer is in approx 35% income tax bracket, he/she has to earn $475 to replace the funds spent on the wine

Wow, didn’t ever think about factoring my tax bracket into the net cost to me for a wine. I may have to spend a lot of time on cellartracker to get my data sorted out. Possibly Eric could have a place to enter your tax bracket and figure true cost automatically.

[TimF]

Of Shafer’s wines, my favorite is Relentless. The choice between two bottles of Monte Bello and one bottle of HSS is a no brainer for me. I’d take Ridge any day.

[David_Glasser]

I love this wine. My favorite Cali Cab for years. The '94 was the best of the best. Are they bigger and hotter post '97 or so? Yeah, I’ll buy that and I can see where it’s gone beyond the pale for some palates. But I still love the stuff. Not as much as an aged Bdx or great Rhone or an aged Ridge Monte Bello, which hit different pleasure zones. But when I’m in the mood for a big-a$$ed cab, it still does the trick. As good as Harlan many years at 1/2 to 1/3 the cost.

Joe, I’m not sure where you are in Illinois but I will be in Chicago Sept 18-20. I can break away from work for dinner on Thursday and will happily bring a bottle or two of recent Hillside if dinner downtown would work for you and a couple of others. Capital Grille on N St Clair does corkage and has the appropriate hunks of beef to accompany big cabs.

[jflegler]

Now that is a nice gesture. I don’t even like the wine anymore (was vastly disappointed while tasting at the winery 2 years ago) but am tempted to meet you in Chicago just to hang out with such a nice guy!

[Tyler_Rico]

@Chris Seiber

To the original question, find a bottle or two at retail or auction. You can skip paying the premium for the vintages that scored highest and are most expensive, and just find a pretty good vintage with 10-20 years on it, and see what you think. I’ve always liked the wines, not quite loved them, but you can see what you think while you contemplate whether to get on the list or not.

This is a good idea on paper but in reality I think this would be a tough task to complete factoring in where the style of napa cab has gone. IMO, there are probably only a handful of producers you could go to today and buy a wine twenty years old and have some sort of reassurance that their current releases will turn out the same down the road. Whether this is a product of winemaking, weather, vineyard replanting, corporate takeover or modern techniques is up for debate.

FWIW, I would put shafer in his category. I recently had a lovely bottle of 96 hillside, I have no hope that their current releases will turn into something like that at age 18.

[Humberto_Dorta]

Joe…for me, most consistently great napa cab. No question about it. It is not the best Napa cab every year but certainly the most consistent. Definitely not a Caymus on steroids and I like Caymus. If you like any post 2000 chances are you will like any you buy.

[Rick.T]

If you decide to stay on the list, you will be offered Shafer 1.5 CS, HSS CS, Syrah Relentless, Merlot and their Chardonnay. I’m a fan of the HSS and some vintages of the Relentless but I stopped purchasing it this year. I’ll continue on with the HSS for at least 2-3 years.