Shafer, Hillside Select, Stags Leap District 2016

The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select is a wine of extraordinary beauty. The purity of the flavors is simply striking, but what really stands out is the wine's mind-blowing balance and total sense of harmony. An exotic mélange of inky blue/purplish fruit, spice, new leather, lavender and licorice build as this sumptuous, dazzling Cabernet Sauvignon shows off its alluring personality. In a word: magnificent!

From a benchmark, cooler vintage for Napa, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select is reminiscent of the 2010 with its pure, focused, yet massive and concentrated style. Giving up incredible cassis fruits, it has a brilliant sense of chalky minerality, a layered, opulent mid-palate, perfectly integrated oak, and more floral, charcoal, and graphite aromatics with time in the glass. It unquestionably offers pleasure today yet needs another 7-8 years to hit its prime drinking plateau, and it will keep through 2066.

Very deep, vibrant purple-black colored, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select strides confidently out of the glass with expressive notions of blueberry preserves, Black Forest cake, cassis and cedar chest with touches of pencil lead, licorice, violets and sandalwood plus a an exotic waft of Indian spices. The rich, densely packed, full-bodied palate is at once thrillingly hedonic and perfectly poised, featuring a rock-solid frame of firm, exquisitely ripe tannins and tons of freshness, finishing epically long and with stunning opulence. Bravo!

A very complex nose here with fresh notes of violets, blueberries, cassis and forest-wood. The palate has a striking sense of power and purity with layers of glossy, ripe, fine tannins, interspersed with fresh blackcurrant and blueberry flavors. Impeccable poise and focus. Mouthwateringly fresh. Drink or hold.