Nicholas #7 Wine of the Year, 2021
Chad called me just a stone’s throw from Shafer with news that for the first time ever – he had finally hit pay-dirt in Stag’s Leap, with a single-vineyard Reserve Cabernet. I didn’t believe him. But, the wine is made from a vineyard more than hundred years old and a part of dozens of historic Stag’s Leap Cabernets, so in fact, Chad really did hit paydirt in Stag’s Leap in 2019. Packed with fruit – cranberry waves atop blackberry all balanced along a tightrope of acidity and a huge aging potential, this wine clearly belongs among the top wines of the Valley.