{"product_id":"shafer-cabernet-sauvignon-hillside-select-stags-leap-district-napa-valley-2022","title":"Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select Stags Leap District Napa Valley 2022","description":"\u003cp\u003eA 97 from James Suckling, matching 96s from Vinous and Jeb Dunnuck, and a 94–96 barrel range from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate – it’s no surprise the critics have once again rallied behind the 2022 Shafer Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon, with Vinous going so far as to call it one of the wines of the vintage! As Jeb Dunnuck put it, \u003cem\u003e\"Beautifully done, with a non-2022-like level of freshness and purity ... It's medium to full-bodied on the palate and has a pure, layered mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and a great finish.\"\u003c\/em\u003e Coming from Shafer's rugged estate vineyard in the Stags Leap District atop volcanic and bedrock soil, this is a wine that shrugged off one of Napa's most challenging recent growing seasons to deliver something complex, balanced, and supremely pure, evidently one of the most stunning expressions of Napa Cabernet you'll find from the 2022 vintage!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShafer Vineyards remains one of Napa’s most-loved and historic wineries. The people behind it – Doug Shafer and the unbelievably talented and humble winemaker extraordinaire, Elias Fernandez, among others – are salt-of-the-earth kind of folks who happen to make the most impressive wines every single year. It’s always so allocated that we hardly get our hands on any (we have less than two cases of this 2022). \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat makes the 2022 so remarkable is how it climbed its way out of a vintage that is considered less than ideal, and landed among some of the greats. An intense early-September heat spike made it a difficult harvest across Napa, but Elias was able to coax this tremendous freshness and elegance from the grapes. The wine is filled with dark, juicy black cherries, cassis, dried blueberries, and black currants, with these hypnotic threads of graphite, semisweet chocolate, mocha, cedar, and plum humming throughout. It has the signature, suede-like Stags Leap District tannins and an elegant, lengthy finish that carries a really pretty floral caress. For 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from a giant of a Napa legend like this, you’re looking at something worthy of aging for a good, long while, though it’s also thrillingly friendly in the here and now.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"First Bottle","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53285685821737,"sku":"1015619","price":375.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0793\/2706\/8457\/files\/Shafer_CSV22_HillsideSelect_StagsLeapDistrict_NV_1015619_FB_Rack.jpg?v=1786721874","url":"https:\/\/firstbottlewines.com\/products\/shafer-cabernet-sauvignon-hillside-select-stags-leap-district-napa-valley-2022","provider":"First Bottle Wines","version":"1.0","type":"link"}