TNs: 10 Years of William and Mary

WINE TALK
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10 YEARS OF WILLAM AND MARY - Forestville, CA (8/24/2025-8/25/2025)

I started planning an offline to focus on @William_Segui wines seeing I had all of them in my cellar. Will ended up joining the event, and bringing a load of wines including some one-offs. We met at my home in Forestville, blew through a bunch of sparklers and whites waiting for everyone to arrive. We started with the 2023 William and Mary McDougall Pinot Noir then we went through the William and Mary Shifflett Cab Sauvs from 2014-2023. Afterwards we tasted a number of the Proprietary Reds as well as a Cab Franc, the Appellation Cabs and one other Shifflett Cabernet Sauvignon before eating.

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The Pinot

Our training wheel wine for the evening.

  • 2023 William & Mary Pinot Noir McDougall Ranch - USA, California, Sonoma County, Fort Ross - Seaview (8/24/2025)
    From memory nose of strawberry, cherry, and spice, crunchy bright red fruits pop from the glass, strawberry hard candy, watermelon, juicy, some oak, some tannin, everyone loved it.

The Shifflett Cabs

2014 through 2023

  • 2014 William & Mary Cabernet Sauvignon Shifflett Ranch - USA, California, Napa Valley, Oak Knoll District (8/24/2025)
    William and Mary Offline The one that started it all. Pop and pour. Most all the wines tonight started off with a bit of sulfur reduction. Some blew off some did not. It dominated this one at first so I didn’t jot down any aromatics. Palate of big black cherry, blackberry, cassis. Nice balance, everything in harmony. Still a tannic finish. Give sufficient air considering the nose and finish. Drink or hold.
  • 2015 William & Mary Cabernet Sauvignon Shifflett Ranch - USA, California, Napa Valley, Oak Knoll District (8/24/2025)
    Note from day 2. Sulfur blew off overnight. Nose of dark berries, toasty oak, black olive and anise. Spicy chewy black cherry, coffee bean, touch of cocoa, full bodied. Easy drinking, polished finish. Ready to go.
  • 2016 William & Mary Cabernet Sauvignon Shifflett Ranch - USA, California, Napa Valley, Oak Knoll District (8/24/2025)
    A little reductive even on day 2. More anise than the ‘15, black currant nose. Bright and well balanced fruit leaning red and more lifted and vibrant than its predecessor. Spicy red currant and chalk on the finish.
  • 2017 William & Mary Cabernet Sauvignon Shifflett Ranch - USA, California, Napa Valley, Oak Knoll District (8/24/2025)
    Classic black currant and cassis nose along with a little oak spice. Deep dark black and blue fruit, really juicy and plush. Ripest of the first 4 vintages with balanced acidity and good lift. Very expansive palate. Finish is bright juicy and long with chewy tannins. Double starred this one.
  • 2018 William & Mary Cabernet Sauvignon Shifflett Ranch - USA, California, Napa Valley, Oak Knoll District (8/24/2025)
    No reduction, deep dark color. All cassis and black fruit on the nose with some cedar coming on late. Velvety texture, red currant, blackberry , black cherry, layered fruit, tons of depth. As much as I liked the ‘17 this one just goes a notch above. More refined and the acidity just takes it to another level. Finish is ultra-chewy though so expect a long cellar life out of this wine. Delicious. Drink or hold.
  • 2019 William & Mary Cabernet Sauvignon Shifflett Ranch - USA, California, Napa Valley, Oak Knoll District (8/24/2025)
    Cassis. And anise nose. Juicy abundant dark fruit, very round texture and rich bodied. There’s a baseline quality to this fruit year in and year out that I really enjoy.very structured blackberry and tart cherry. Wonderful depth and again that chewy chalky finish where the bright acidity pushes that big fruit through. Lovely wine.
  • 2021 William & Mary Cabernet Sauvignon Shifflett Ranch - USA, California, Napa Valley, Oak Knoll District (8/24/2025)
    Black as night. Color extraction is impressive. Anise/black licorice whip, spice, black currant, cassis and no sulfur. Big rich mouthful of ripe black and blue fruit. Expansive, rich, the fruit extraction matches that of the color. White pepper, chewy, chewy, chewy. Big wine, big future.
  • 2023 William & Mary Cabernet Sauvignon Shifflett Ranch - USA, California, Napa Valley, Oak Knoll District (8/24/2025)
    Another dark, densely extracted wine. Opaque in the glass like a Petite Sirah. Mocha, blackberry, toasty oak, white pepper, pure joy on the palate. Plush ripe fruit, expansive, mouth-coating and layered, black currant, roasted meat, great acidity. Surprisingly approachable but could use a few years to flesh out more. If this is what 2023 has to offer for Cabernet Sauvignon the vintage may just live up to its hype.
  • 2022 William & Mary Cabernet Sauvignon Shifflett Ranch - USA, California, Napa Valley, Oak Knoll District (8/24/2025)
    Reductive black currant and black cherry nose. Palate is pretty shut down. Lots of black fruit draped in a cloak of minerality that keeps the fruit close knitted. This is a serious wine that needs to be stashed and forgotten for 10 years or more. The mineral and tannic components are at the forefront and unyielding.

The Prop Reds

4 vintages of the cab merlot blend

  • 2016 William & Mary Proprietary Red Shifflett Ranch - USA, California, Napa Valley, Oak Knoll District (8/24/2025)
    Blackberry and plum nose. Pillowy soft texture, ripe plums, cigar box, tobacco leaf. Ruch black currant, a touch sweet with polished tannins.
  • 2017 William & Mary Proprietary Red Shifflett Ranch - USA, California, Napa Valley, Oak Knoll District (8/24/2025)
    A touch of reduction, lots of spice on the nose.,red and black fruited, soft and plush but no one aspect takes center stage. Everything just melds together, plum, currants, cassis, a little flabby, fairly tame tannins, easy drinking.
  • 2018 William & Mary Proprietary Red Shifflett Ranch - USA, California, Napa Valley, Oak Knoll District (8/24/2025)
    Reductive on day 2 still. Tobacco, red currant, a hint of pyrazines. Brighter, mire expressive fruit than the ‘17. Nice acidic lift to the red fruit on the palate. Dark plum, red currant, serious tannins. Needs time.
  • 2019 William & Mary Proprietary Red Shifflett Ranch - USA, California, Napa Valley, Oak Knoll District (8/24/2025)
    Fresh fruity nose, very inviting, layers of currant, cassis and chocolate. Structure is pretty wound up and the wine has a saline quality that envelopes the palate. May be a hint if palate fatigue. This was just Ok for me.

The uncategorized

One-offs, shiners and the appellation wines

  • 2018 William & Mary Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley - USA, California, Napa Valley (8/24/2025)
    Fairly dark and opaque color. Dark fruits on the nose, very ripe fruit up front considering the early pick. Juicy and crunchy blackberry, black currant. Spicy, lots of oak to integrate, very tasty right now. Finishes long and chewy. Considering this is day 2 I’d wait in the others for a while although it is very tasty.
  • 2019 William & Mary Cabernet Franc Off the Menu Shifflett Ranch - USA, California, Napa Valley, Oak Knoll District (8/24/2025)
    Dark color, I’m not getting a ton of aromatics from this like other note. Very leafy as one noted with lots of mint coming to the top. That mint highlights the fruit as well making for an interesting flavor profile against the dark berries. Plush, contemplative and a nice change of pace to all the Cab Sauvs. I really like it.
  • 2021 William & Mary Cabernet Sauvignon Shifflett Ranch - USA, California, Napa Valley, Oak Knoll District (8/24/2025)
    This wine is a one-off from a block close to the family home that the Shiffletts made their house wine from. When the family patriarch passed away a few years back will made a wine form that block. It came in at a lean 13.0 abv so it’s labeled as such. 13.0
    Extracted color, seems to be a vintage trademark. Similar to the ‘21 Shifflett. Nose is holding back a bit, not as expressive as the other ‘21. Palate os plush and seamless. Creamy reddish black berries, great balance. Leaner profile, finish is polished and refined. An old school styled classic.

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  • 2021 William & Mary Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville (8/24/2025)
    Puple and black fruit, ripe nose. Expressive red and purple fruit on the palate with a juicy profile. Touch of leather handbag. Very spicy, blackberry and graham cracker crust. Soft delicate tannins

Really fun event, fun crowd, Will was awesome as his wines. Was great to look at them all side by side. Don’t know why it took so long to do it.

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Posted from CellarTracker

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Nice write up, nice event!

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Great event and thanks for sharing all the details. I’m still very excited to have a few of those cab francs in my cellar. Trying to space them out, but may have to pop one this coming weekend.

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Great notes, Brian! A huge shout-out to @Brian_Tuite for putting this together and to @William_Segui. It was great getting to know Will and I enjoyed talking to him about wine, family and the Boston sports scene.

For the Shifflett Ranch wines, my favorites were the 2014 and the 2016. Perhaps the 2014 had the advantage of being the first one poured. The 2018 and 2019 are going to be spectacular as they continue to age, but I would hold off from opening them for awhile. The 2017 was very nice for such a difficult vintage. I remember being in San Francisco on Labor Day weekend in 2017 and it was 100 degrees there. The '21 has a great future and, as Brian said, it is really hard not to love the 23’s.

We brought a bottle of the '21 Oakville and it was darned tasty, but needs a lot more time. I really like what I have tasted from Napa Cabs from 2021.

It was a great night of wine, food, music, and above all, friendship.

:wine_glass:

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Thanks for posting the notes and impressions, Brian and Ed. I’m curious what kind of decanting the wines were given before serving? I’ve had some good success with several hours of decanting on the cabs, in particular.

Sorry to hear you weren’t as smitten with the 2019 Proprietary Red as I have been, Brian. I just love that wine. But, all our palates are different.

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They were all basically pop and pour. Will pulled corks on his just to make sure they weren’t cork tainted, put the corks back in and brought them over. The rest of the wine here we pulled the cork right before we served them. No decanting.
All my notes came from revisiting Sunday afternoon.

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Sounds like a fantastic tasting - and I’m sure you cooked up some great red meat to go with everything as well.

Did Will have any commentary about the reductive notes on many of the wines or did he mention that this was’ as expected’? And did others note this as well, or is this something you are particularly sensitive to?

I wouldn’t bring it up if it was not mentioned so often in the notes - and I don’t find it a big deal - just interesting.

Cheers

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He sure did! There are some pics in the Event Planner section.

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I didn’t ask, just figured it was sulfured at bottling. It blew off in most of the wines. Maybe @William_Segui can chime in.

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Other event pics and commentary here —> William & Mary Offline, Saturday Aug 23rd, Mi Casa, Forestville, Sonoma County - #111 by Brian_Tuite

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Great write-up Brian, thanks……
I have bought every vintage of the Shifflett Cabs and Prop Reds since the inaugural 2014 vintage….love them! Question for you (or @William_Segui if he sees this), are all the Shifflett Cabs 100% Cabernet? And any idea what the varietal breakdown is for the various vintages of the Prop Red? Just curious……

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The 2016 was by far my favorite because it was so red fruited, but I started finding that the fruit character of more recent vintages to be less to my taste. Is that 2016 moreso an outlier or does the 2023 recapture it at all?

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According to Will the Shiffletts are 100% Cab Sauv but one or two have seen some Cab Franc. I yield to Will on the other question.

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Loved the write-up. Very helpful to have the reviews. So (SO SO SO) sorry to have missed it. Worked later than hoped and in no shape for freeway driving even while sober. Thank you for including my friends. afaik, Karen is down to about two clients; one being your step kids is hilarious. Or just as you said, small world.

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I’d have to go back to it tonight but I think the ‘23 growing season leant itself to produce more intensely structured richer wines. Maybe 48hrs if air will be more telling.

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It was neat seeing them walk through the gate.

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Another great event hosted by Brian And well worth jumping on a plane to attend. It was a long day and we popped in for a couple of tastings before at Lynmar and Scherrer which made it even longer. I also made it through all the cabs, but not so much on the proprietary Reds. My favorites were the 14, 16 and 19 with a 23 showing really well right out of the gate. The 14 was most ready to go, and the bottle emptied pretty quickly, so the crowd seemed to agree.

It was great seeing everyone and hanging out with Will. He said he would see us the next morning at our 10 AM Rivers Marie tasting, but on the ride we were laughing that we didn’t expect to see him there and it was no surprise we didn’t.:joy:

Once again, the food was spectacular and Brian came through with an encore on his world class mac & cheese which once again was nothing short of amazing

Glad to see everyone who made it up and hope to see you all again

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I haven’t been this jealous since Joseph got that technicolor dreamcoat.

:wine_glass:

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Revisiting the last pour of the 2023 Shifflett tonight and it’s definitely not red leaning. Deep dark color, dark fruited, mocha, tobacco, blackberry , black cherry, blueberry, black currant, layered and deep. There is some lift on the finish but I wouldn’t call it red fruited.

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re: reduction. I don’t think it was/is sulfur, I just don’t rack my wines very often.

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