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Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon 1999

Shafer Vineyards, Napa Valley, U.S.

Shafer Vineyards
Napa Valley U.S.
  • 96
    Points
  • The 1 030 best of the all Tb wines
  • 13 tasters of 14 recommend this wine
121 96
  • Taste
  • Moment

  • Country ranking ?

    286

  • Producer ranking ?

    24

  • Decanting time

    2h

  • When to drink

    2020-2035

  • Food Pairing

    Game

Food Pairing

Game

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The Story

The Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon has that warm, classic Californian flair to it – loads of ripe and jammed black fruits, smooth tannins and mellow acidity. The wines are always big and as Doug Shafer points out “Napa wines are big wines, no point hiding it.” Still baring the Stag’s Leap District’s smooth style, with tannins that are always very gentle and fine-grained, the Hillside Select is voluminous, but in a discreet manner, making i...

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Vintage 1999

The 1999 California wine harvest stands as a classically structured, long-season vintage across Napa Valley, Sonoma, and the Santa Cruz Mountains, characterized by a cool spring that delayed budbreak, a brief July heat spike, and an extended, mild autumn that allowed winemakers to achieve extended hang-time. Reduced yields from cool spring conditions concentrated fruit flavor and retained firm natural acidity, yielding Cabernet Sauvignons defi...

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Latest tasting notes

14 tasting notes

Tasting note

color

Full, Ruby red and Healthy

ending

Long, Spicy and Extensive

flavors

Blackberry, Cranberry, Coffee, Smoky, Cedar and Mineral

nose

Intense, Seductive, Refined and Tempting

taste

Average in Acidity, High alcohol content, Balanced, Well-Integrated, Well-structured, Youthful, Full-bodied, Full, Harmonious, Elegant and Silky tannins

Veridict

Exotic and Full-bodied

Written Notes

Good looking normal size bottle, is in a perfect condition and has by the neck level. Colour is and looking healthy and full. The taste is full, high alcohol content, and average in acidity, full-bodied, with balanced structure and youthful. The finish is long and spicy. This wine is exotic and beauty. Perfectly stored bottles are still very worthy and will last well for another 20-30 years and decant at least over 4h before tasting.
- (Automatically)
  • 90p

(14.9% alcohol): Healthy dark red. Wonderfully complex, vibrant nose combines cherry, gravelly minerality, smoke, leather and truffley underbrush. Offers a compelling combination of sweetness of fruit and energy; here a subtle hint of herbs just adds to the appeal of this densely packed, utterly fresh wine. Finishes with very suave tannins and terrific lingering perfume. This firmly structured cool-vintage beauty should continue to evolve positively for at least another decade.

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  • 95p
This wine shows totally different from the others, it has that Shafer richness, the ripe and lush cassis, blackberry and dark cherry qualities, and still a slightly oaky touch. Compared to all other wines it appears to be several years younger, there so much more primary fruit flavor here, so much more richness, silkiness, intensity, and length. It's a pure Cabernet Sauvignon, predominately from the hillside behind the winery, and it's raised in brand new French oak barrels for around 34 months, which helped to polish the tannins. Style wise it's also the most powerful and the alcohol level touch 15 percent and is of course notable in the finish, but the overall balance is there and it's truly a delicious wine. Of all the wines tasted this evening, this was the one that won most of aeration. Even five hours after it was decanted, it tastes lovely.
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  • 94p
A purple red wine with violet hue and almost black core. The nose is opulent and complex with aroma reminiscent of ripe berries, blackcurrants and blackberries, spices notes, fine toasted aromas and elegant oak spicyness. The aroma builds up with the time. On the palate this wine shows an excellent structure with well integrated tannins, powerful yet elegant character. With more oxygen contat the wines develops an elegant sweetness, which makes a pleasant mouthfeel.
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  • 95p
Good looking normal size bottle, in an perfect condition and has by the neck level. Colour is ruby red, and looking bright and medium. On the nose it is open, intense, refined, seductive, tempting and rich. The taste is harmonious, elegant, perfumed, vivid, with silky tannins, with balanced, well-structured and well-integrated structure. On the palate it is layered and has blackberry, cranberry, coffee, mineral, smoky, spice, perfumed, glycerin, herbs and cedar flavours. The finish is long, extensive, pure and spicy. This wine is transparent, sexy and excellent. I paid around 500-1k€ a bottle. Perfectly stored bottles are still very worthy and will last well for another 20-30 years and decant at least 2h before tasting. Good value for money.
- (Automatically)
  • 97p
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Information

Origin

Napa, Napa Valley
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