2022 Shafer 'Hillside Select' Cabernet Sauvignon Stag's Leap District
The Hillside Select is a masterclass in Stags Leap District Cabernet—elegant, powerful, and built to age. Aromas of blackberry, cedar, and just-picked cherry rise from the glass, layered with floral and leather tones. The palate is pure sophistication, merging dark fruit, red plum, wet stone, and black tea, all framed by seamlessly integrated tannins. The 2022 vintage was built for this style of wine, showing optimal balance and plenty of depth. One to buy and keep a hold of if you can.
“Year in year out, [Shafer] is one of the superstar wineries, not only in Napa Valley and all of California, but in the entire world...Today, this is a winery that does everything about as perfect as can be. They have kept their feet, heads and egos grounded, and continue to kick proverbial ass with every vintage.” – Parker In 1972 John Shafer departed his 23 year career in publishing and moved to the Napa Valley to pursue a second career in wine. Fortuitously, he found a 210 acre parcel in the Stags Leap District and set up shop. His first task at hand was that of replanting the vineyards, some of which dated back to the 1920s. The Shafer family crushed their first Cabernet in 1978 and began building their winery the next year. Needless to say, that first release became not only a benchmark but a legend in its own right. Eventually they expanded their beautiful hillside acreage and in 1983, John's son, Doug Shafer, became winemaker after graduating from U.C. Davis with a degree in enology and viticulture. Since then, Doug has stepped up to becoming the company's president and has passed the winemaking reins over to Elias Fernandez. From their somewhat modest beginnings, Shafer has blossomed into a world-class estate that is nationally and internationally renowned.
Jeb Dunnuck
The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select is a solid success in the vintage, offering a beautifully layered, rich, textured style on the palate. Blackberries, redcurrants, spicy oak, dried flowers, and tobacco notes all give way to a full-bodied 2022 that has sweet tannins and great purity.
James Suckling
This offers the classic richness and breadth of the Shafer property, backed by a firm structure of fine-grained tannins and the cool, collected character of the Stags Leap district. It is saturated with dark cherries, dried blueberries, blackcurrants, graphite and bittersweet chocolate. At first sip expansive and ripe, then firmer and more linear on the palate due to the persistent tannins and overall fine balance. Drink now or hold.
Wine Advocate
Shafer's big kahuna, the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select, was presented as a barrel sample in August 2025. Black cherries and cassis are framed by cedar and vanilla-inflected oak, giving this wine a slightly monolithic bouquet right now. It's full-bodied, dense and concentrated but still boasts the signature Stags Leap District texture to its suede-like tannins, which linger elegantly on the finish.