SHAFER Cabernet Sauvignon 'One Point Five' - Stags Leap District, Napa Valley 2022 Bottle

Description

The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon One Point Five from Shafer Vineyards has garnered impressive accolades, including 95 points from Wine Enthusiast and Decanter. This sophisticated wine showcases ripe plums and dark fruits, intertwined with aromas of cracked pine and pitch, delivering a complex and mouthwatering profile. Its palate is soft and supple, featuring classic black cherry and blackcurrant notes alongside emerging blue fruits, star anise, and coriander cream. The tannins are gentle yet present, gliding smoothly to a sweet-spiced finish. The Wine Advocate notes its full-bodied, velvety texture with black cherries wrapped in subtle cedar and vanilla. With a drinking window from 2025 to 2040, this wine promises considerable potential for ageing and enjoyment in the years to come.

*****

WINE ENTHUSIAST 95 points
Dripping ripe plums and other dark fruits are spun through with aromas of cracked pine and pitch for a complex Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa icon, Shafer Vineyards. Succulent and mouthwatering with melting tannins and a persistent finish, this is a wine with plenty of potential to age. — Elaine Chukan Brown

DECANTER 95 points
Tasted by: Jonathan Cristaldi
(at Chimney Rock, Napa, CA, 20 Mar 2025)
Part of Napa Cabernet 2022: Best value wines of the vintage
Drinking Window: 2025 - 2035
Polished and expressive, with classic black cherry and blackcurrant fruit, graphite and cedarwood. Soft and supple, juicy and red-fruited on the palate, with emerging blue fruit nuanced by star anise and coriander cream. The tannins are present, but gentle and feather-like, gliding to a sweet-spiced finish. Rounded out with 3% each of Petit Verdot and Merlot, and 2% Malbec.

JANCIS ROBINSON 16.5 points
Full bottle 1,417 g. 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Petit Verdot, 3% Merlot, 2% Malbec. Matured 18 months in 100% new French oak.
Inky purple. Leather polish and sweet black fruit on the nose. Building tannin that don't quite match the more moderate fruit concentration on the palate. Tangy acidity and an oak-spiced finish. (SCJ)

THE WINE ADVOCATE 93 points
Reviewed by: Joe Czerwinski
Drink Date: 2026 - 2040
While the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon One Point Five includes some purchased fruit, the aim is for it to become fully estate once new plantings come into production. It's an incrementally richer, darker and more concentrated wine than Shafer's TD-9, with black cherries wrapped in a subtle cloak of almost ephemeral cedar and vanilla. Full-bodied and velvety textured, with a lingering finish, it should drink well for at least 15 years.

Now that the dust has largely settled following the 2022 sale of Shafer Vineyards to Shinsegae Property, a Korean firm, readers should be reassured that wine quality remains high. I visited with Managing Director Matthew Sharp and Winemaker Elias Fernandez during my August 2024 trip to Napa and came away impressed with the current and forthcoming vintages.

Sharp has a background in wine sales—he was the winery's commercial director from 2016–2022—and has overseen the acquisition of additional vineyards since his promotion to General Manager and now Managing Director. Controlling fruit sourcing is obviously a focus, and Shafer Vineyards now owns approximately 250 acres of vines. The largest parcel remains the original property, purchased by John Shafer in 1972, but there are 90 acres in Carneros (source of the Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay) and the more recently acquired Wildfoote Ranch (Stags Leap District, 2022) and Altimeter Vineyard (Atlas Peak, 2023).

Fernandez joined Shafer Vineyards in 1984 and was named winemaker in 1994, giving him a string of 40 vintages at the property. He's the long-term institutional memory, seemingly able to remember details of past growing seasons with remarkable acuity. Other winemakers in the Stags Leap District community speak of him and his willingness to offer counsel with reverence. On this visit, we tasted the 1994 and 2004 Hillside Selects, plus the current release 2021 and barrel samples of the 2022 and 2023. To this taster, those earlier vintages are at peak; the newer stuff seems capable of achieving similar 30-year lifespans.
Published: Oct 17, 2024

VINOUS 92 points
The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon One Point Five is a gorgeous wine in this challenging vintage. Soft, silky and expressive, the 2022 offers tons of appeal in a mid-weight style that is all charm. Dark-toned fruit, leather, cedar and blood orange all meld together. This is impeccably done. - Antonio Galloni