SHAFER VINEYARDS

Shafer Vineyards traces its beginnings to 1972 when John Shafer left a 23-year career in the publishing industry and, with his family, moved to the Napa Valley to pursue a second career in wine.

Evolving from grape growers to vintners, the Shafers crushed their first Cabernet grapes in 1978 and began construction of their winery a year later. The first Shafer Cabernet became a benchmark, taking first place in an international blind tasting held in Germany, where it outranked such wines as Château Margaux, Château Latour and Château Palmer.

Doug Shafer became winemaker in 1983. A year later Elias Fernandez joined the winery as assistant winemaker. Together Doug and Elias have worked closely to forge the Shafer style of quality, consistency and elegance. In 1994, Elias was appointed winemaker, and Doug took over the reins as president when John became chairman of the board.

The winery has grown steadily until reaching its present size of 32,000 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, and Syrah. Their flagship Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select, sourced from the Hillside estate right around the winery, is recognized as one of the finest and most collectable wines in the world.

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