I’ve visited Shafer Winery many times over the years, but have never had a chance to explore the famous hillside vineyards behind the winery until they just created this new hillside wine tourism experience this year. It is fascinating to taste the wine while surrounded by these amazing vines that birthed the Shafer Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon.
About Shafer Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon
Napa Valley’s famous Shafer Hillside Select wine has been reaping top reviews for more than 40 years now, but this is the first time Shafer Vineyards has created a new experience that allows visitors to tour the legendary hillside vineyard.
“The Shafer Hillside Select wine is only made from the best vineyard blocks on the steep hillside behind the winery, and is always 100% cabernet sauvignon,” explained Elias Fernandez, Shafer winemaker since 1994.
The wine was actually produced as early as 1978 and called Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon, but by 1983 founder, John Shafer and his son, Doug Shafer, realized that the cabernet sauvignon grapes coming from select blocks on the hillside were exceptional. Therefore, they created this special cuvee and called it Shafer Hillside Select.
The current release is the 2019 Shafer Hillside Select (the wine is aged 32 months in 100% new French oak before release), and immediately received 98 point scores from both Wine Advocate and Jeb Dunnuck. The release price was $375 per bottle, but the wine is allocated and only available to mailing list members.
Experiencing the New Hillside Select Tour
Recently I had a chance to explore this unique new experience, and when I arrived at the winery, I was greeted by Ilse Mapes, Hospitality Director, and Andy Demsky, Communications Director.
“We have just launched this new experience because for years visitors have been asking to explore the vineyards,” explained Ilse. However, due to the steep volcanic hillside of the Stag’s Leap District with its towering volcanic chimneys that rise dramatically over the vines, the winery had to establish safe pathways and a look-out terrace first.
The experience begins in a private room with glass walls overlooking the valley below. Guests are greeted with a chilled glass of Billcart Salmon Champagne and a generous helping of Regiis Ova black caviar on potato crisps. During this relaxed and welcoming interlude visitors can view the vineyard map with the different blocks that make up Hillside Select.
The next phase is a thrilling ride on a Polaris Ranger vehicle, which slowly winds through the twists and turns of the gravel path up and into the hillside vineyard behind the winery. Along the way, visitors learn about the sustainable and regenerative practices that are used to farm, including cover crops, water conservation, no soil tilling, and use of 100% solar power for the winery.
“We have a resident pair of red tail hawks that nest on the property and they just had a baby,” said Ilse. And, as if on cue, two magnificent hawks came sailing over the vines, followed by a baby hawk doing aerial flips as he (or she) enjoyed testing out their new wings.
However, one of the sustainability practices that Shafer is most well-known for is the flock of sheep that they bring into the vineyard each spring to ‘mow’ the grass and provide natural fertilizer.
“The flock arrives with their own Peruvian shepherds and great Pyrenees sheep dogs each March and stay for about a month,” explained Andy Demsky. The company that provides the sheep is called Kaos Sheep Outfit, and Andy said that during the pandemic, a 6-hour video he produced of the sheep eating grass in the vineyards went viral.
“I think that during the pandemic people wanted to see nature, and there was something about the sheep eating grass in the vineyard that was calming and reassuring,” he said. See the video on YouTube below, with more than 460,000 views to date. https://embedly.forbes.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FUrKkchVOOAs&display_name=YouTube&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DUrKkchVOOAs&image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FUrKkchVOOAs%2Fhqdefault.jpg&key=3ce26dc7e3454db5820ba084d28b4935&type=text%2Fhtml&schema=youtube…Insert Text Above
Once the Polaris reached a plateau halfway up the hillside, a large rock terrace appeared. In the center was a table where Ilse uncorked a bottle of the latest Shafer Hillside select wine – the 2019 vintage.
It was delightful sipping the delicious wine while standing on the very hillside that birthed the grapes. Rich flavors of cassis, black cherry, and cedar came first, followed by hints of violets, tobacco and black tea leaves, all wrapped in a plush mouthfeel of soft velvety tannins. I found it to be reminiscent of a Margaux Grand Cru, with richness and elegance.
As we relaxed on the hillside terrace, we learned more about the history of the estate, before slowly driving back to the winery for the third part of the 90 minute experience. This comprised an in depth private tasting of three rare library bottles of Hillside Select, along with a clever charcuterie board for each guest.
For this tasting, we enjoyed the 2012, 2006, and 1999 vintages, and it was amazing to taste the evolution of the wines as they aged into even more complex and hedonistic delights.
The complete Hillside Select Experience is only offered twice a week during the Spring, Summer, and Autumn months and is $500 per person. Shafer Vineyards offers two other 90-minute experiences: the Terrace View Tasting for $125 per guest and the Private Collector’s Experience for $195 per guest.
Other wines crafted at Shafer Vineyards, in addition to the legendary Hillside Select, include Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay, TD-9 Cabernet Sauvignon, 1.5 Cabernet Sauvignon, and Relentless Syrah.
Winemaker, Elias Fernandez, Celebrates 40 Years at Shafer Vineyards
Though winemaker, Elias Fernandez, is not part of the experience, visitors may bump into him on the property as I did. This year he is celebrating his 40th anniversary with Shafer Vineyards.
When asked, Elias was very happy to share more information about the actual blocks that went into the 2019, and how he selected them.
“The grapes from the Sunspot block are always part of Hillside Select because of their prime location on the hillside,” explained Elias. “As for the rest of the blocks, I find that the vines speak to you when you know their language.”
And Elias should know the language of grapes, because he grew up in Napa Valley and attended U.C. Davis before Doug Shafer offered him the job as assistant winemaker in 1984. Elias moved into the top winemaker position in 1994 when Doug was promoted to winery President.
NOTE: This article was originally published in Forbes.com. Republished here with permission.