2004 Hillside Select® Cabernet Sauvignon
Release date: September 1, 2008 Suggested California retail: $215
“… one of the New World’s most profound Cabernet Sauvignons …” – Robert M. Parker, Jr., The Wine Advocate
Hillside Select is made of 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon fruit sourced from rugged hillside vineyard blocks on our Stags Leap District Estate. Truly a “wine of a place,” this Cabernet exemplifies the extraordinary richness and suppleness consistently produced in our little valley within a valley.
“When I released my first Cabernet Sauvignon, the 1978 vintage, everyone remarked on its softness and asked how much Merlot I’d blended in. ‘None,’ I replied; it was 100% hillside-grown Cabernet. In later vintages, when that wine became our Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon, I realized tasters had identified the supple, velvety tannins that are the hallmark of Stags Leap District Cabernet.” – John Shafer
Winemaker’s Notes
“This is a classic Hillside Select striking a balance of dark, lush, jammy fruit with youthful elegance. These are the enduring aromas and flavors of our hillside grapes – loads of blackberry, cassis, dark chocolate, black cherry, black pepper integrated nicely with oak, char and vanilla all tied up in a bow of silky, firm, easy-to-enjoy tannins. In terms of its weight and style, this one is a close relative of the 1999 vintage.” – Elias Fernandez, Shafer winemaker
Hillside Select is aged a full four years prior to release (three years in Alliers and Tronçais oak barrels and one year in the bottle). While enjoyable today, this wine will gain richness and maturity with up to 20 years of careful cellaring.
| Get the Fact Sheet on this Wine 2008 Current Releases Shafer Brochure |
Finding our Wines Robert M. Parker Jr.’s The Wine Advocate, December 2007 |
Making a Wine of a Place
John Shafer, Doug Shafer, and Elias Fernandez – the team that have produced Hillside Select for
more than two decades – tell behind-the-scenes stories about how the wine was created and how it’s
being made today.
Hillside Select® Tasting Notes
- 2004
- 2003
- 2002
- 2001
- 2000
- 1999
- 1998
- 1997
- 1996
- 1995
- 1994
- 1993
- 1992
- 1991
- 1990
- 1989
- 1988
- 1987
- 1986
- 1985
- 1984
- 1983
| 2004 | This is a classic Hillside Select striking a balance of dark, lush, jammy fruit with youthful elegance. These are the enduring aromas and flavors of our hillside grapes – loads of blackberry, cassis, dark chocolate, juicy black cherry, black pepper integrated nicely with oak, char and vanilla all tied up in a bow of silky, firm, easy-to-enjoy tannins. In terms of its weight and style, this one is a close relative of the 1999 vintage. | Drink now – 20 years |
| 2003 | Shafer’s hillside vineyards produced a 2003 harvest of small, dark berries loaded with ripe, immense aromas and flavors. The aromas are rich and perfumy and the wine fills the mouth with rich cassis, blackberry, toasty vanilla, mocha, herbs, and a seamless integration of soft, ripe Stags Leap District tannins. The wine feels expansive and juicy in the mouth and the flavors linger long after the glass is empty. | Drink now – 15 years |
| 2002 | This Hillside Select is classic Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon from a justly celebrated Napa Valley vintage. Youthful and intense. Pure, wide-open, dark-fruit aromas seem to push out of the bottle. The movement from nose to mouth to supple tannin to lengthy finish is harmonious, offering a round, expansive, silky liquid feast of black cherry, rich plum, black fruit, cassis, and dark chocolate shot through with toasty vanilla, blueberry, and cedar. Strikes a balance between extract and elegance. | Drink now – 20 years |
| 2001 | From the legendary 2001 vintage this Hillside Select offers aromatic and huge black berry and vanilla, loaded with black currant and cassis; round, rich, layered dark fruit flavors, with a balanced seasoning of minerals, tobacco, and herbs; a core of sweetness emerges from our small-berried hillside fruit with a long, mouth-filling finish of dark chocolate, vanilla and spice all surrounded by the classic silky tannins of the Stags Leap District.” | Drink now – 15 years |
| 2000 | Seems to be in a quiet phase, even so the wines shows a nice range of aromatics — black fruit, pepper, mineral, sweet-spicy vanilla and dense purple-midnight color. Beginning to show pleasing age characteristics of cedar and tobacco. A core of sweetness and supple, sweet tannins from our small-berried hillside fruit spread a chocolate-like rounded feel in the mouth and offer a lengthy finish. | Drink now – 10 years |
| 1999 | Aromatically bright and youthful, this Hillside Select offers rich raspberry, jammy fruit, with seasonings of tobacco, herbs and minerals and a core of sweetness. This generously proportioned wine expands as it moves through the palate leaving behind an almost chocolate-like coating. It’s masculine tannins are similar to the 1992 vintage of Hillside Select and should offer excellent aging potential. | Drink now – 15 years |
| 1998 | Showing beautifully while striking a balance between youth and age. Maturing a bit early, reflective of the vintage. Deep color with soft tannins and luscious fruit typical of our hillside vineyards. Aromatics offer a pleasing blend of currants, vanilla and mineral in the mouth and a long finish. This was our first vintage to do berry selection in the vineyard ensuring that the fruit we harvested was the best of the vintage. That work shows nicely here. This one has a long way to go. | Drink now – 8 years |
| 1997 | Still a monster with big mouthfeel, very dark color, lots of chocolate and dark fruit. Showing signs of moving past the stage of primary fruit with cedar, tea and tobacco moving toward center stage. In a couple of years this wine should transition deliciously into the full beauty of age. A long finish of chocolate, vanilla and spice all surrounded by the classic silky tannins of the Stags Leap District. | Drink now – 12 years |
| 1996 | With more herbs, cedar and tea than its ’97 sibling, this one is embracing age. Ripe aromatics and big, balanced fruit flavors. Deep color in the center of the glass with brick at the edge, silky texture and maturing fruit, showing elements of black currant and dark spice with a long finish. | Drink now - 8 years |
| 1995 | This Hillside Select is rich, lively lovely, dark and complex. Uplifted aromatics. Combines power and elegance, with velvety brick color and maturing Cabernet flavors. Rich with great depth of flavor and a lingering finish. | Drink now – 10 years |
| 1994 | From one of the watershed years where a great vintage and winemaking experience came together. More complex with age offering tea, cedar, tobacco and leather. In an age plateau Hillside Select typically reaches at eight to ten years, where it holds for five or more years. Overall this wine seems to be going through a quiet phase just before entering the bottle bouquet phase in a big way. | Drink now – 8 years |
| 1993 | In our most recent tasting we were surprised how developed the color was. A very complete wine in a more subtle way than 1994; this one almost seems like it belongs in a line-up of our Hillside Selects from the late 1980s. Showing mature color with a brick-red rim; oak toast, plums and nice earth/mineral notes in the nose. Bright, refined fruit that has surprising depth and finesse. | Drink now – 5 years |
| 1992 | Still a young wine with masculine tannins, the kind we didn’t see again until 1999. More showy than its 1991 sibling. This was our first wine produced without sterile filtration. Enjoying the full pleasures of age in its aroma and flavor profile; balanced and structured with tannins that have reconciled with the fruit. Some amber at the edges of the glass. A smooth, seamless wine. Long finish. Showing bottle bouquet. | Drink
now – 5 years Drink now – 5/10 years |
| 1991 | This was a fantastic vintage with lots of hang time. In the cellar we’d learned how to produce our wines with less human manipulation. Dense color in the center of the glass with red/orange at the edges, dense flavors, juicy fruit, great length, and richnes. Complexities are still developing. | Drink now – 8/10 years |
| 1990 | Beautiful color with flavors and aromas of blackberries, tea, heabs, spice, cedar and developing mushroom. Mature and balanced with a silky texture and pleasing finish. | Drink now – 5/8 years |
| 1989 | A complete, complex wine. Mature Cabernet aromas that lead to complex herbal, tea and cedar flavors and soft tannins. Still sweet with nice length. | Drink now |
| 1988 | Medium dark color, floral notes in the nose. Medium bodied, mature Cabernet flavors and moderate tannins. | Drink now |
| 1987 | Bigger, more substantial than 1985 or 1986. Mature, herbal aromas. Complex Cabernet Sauvignon flavors balanced by soft tannins. | Drink now – 5 years |
| 1986 | Developed aromas of earth and mature fruit. Complex bottle bouquet. | Drink now – 3 years |
| 1985 | Mature color with restrained, mature medium/full-bodied flavors. Still some vibrancy and liveliness. | Drink now – 3/5 years |
| 1984 | Pleasantly surprising in our most recent tasting. From a warm vintage this Hillside Select is still showing sweetness (not dried out) with nice color, herbal aromas. The only year that wasn’t 100% Cabernet Sauvignon (7% Cabernet Franc added). Medium body, mature flavors. | Drink now - 2 years |
| 1983 | Fully
mature color and aromas. Nice acidity complements mature flavors
and resolved tannins. |
Drink now |
2004 Hillside Select® Reviews
“... opulent, flamboyant ... with notes of black currants liqueur intermixed with tasty new oak, charcoal, smoke, barbeque spices, and oodles of fruit, this wine has fabulous richness in an exuberant, sexy style, and a long, heady layered finish with nothing out of balance. The integration of acidity, tannin, wood, and alcohol are brilliant. This is a great wine to drink over two decades, if not longer.”
– Robert M. Parker, Jr., The Wine Advocate
“Pure, rich, intense and vibrant, with tight, sharply focused, vivid black cherry, blackberry and black currant fruit that has a nice dusty, loamy edge and ends with a pleasant burst of ripe fruit flavors that are long and persistent.”
– James Laube, Wine Spectator
“... very attractive, forward, intense, very ripe, plumy, cedary, cassis and dark berry fruit aroma with … big, rich, intense, complex, plumy, very ripe, dark currant and blackberry fruit flavors; full tannin; lingering aftertaste. Shows great depth and concentration, and while very appealing to taste now we could recommend cellaring for at least another five years. Very highly recommended.”
– California Grapevine
“No wine has outranked Shafer Hillside Select over the last twenty-five years … we expect this current vintage to perform as well for the next two decades as its mates have done. It is deep, bold, almost heavy and heady wine, but it is layered, full of fruit and has the underlying structure to improve.”
– Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine
“... dramatically ripe and powerful. The flavors of red and black currants, milk chocolate, figs and smoky vanilla erupt in the mouth, making the tastebuds jump with joy. However, there is also the structure, among the greatest in California Cabs. The acidity is fine, but the tannins are stupendously rich, sweet and complex, practically a food group in themselves. Stunning and gorgeous ...”
– Wine Enthusiast, “Top 100 Cellar Selections”
“Sweet herb, then floral perfume, dusty plum, toast and underlying berry. Juicy, fruity style that is rich, generous and deep.”
– San Francisco Chronicle
