Out of the SFGate.com's rubric, "Sipping News"
Stags Leap redux
In the beginning, which is to say 1978, Shafer Vineyards' Cabernet Sauvignon was made from Stags Leap District fruit. Its Hillside Select, first made in 1983, has always been a Stags Leap bottling. But in the early 1990s, phylloxera forced the winery to switch to a Napa Valley Cabernet.
As of this month, both Cabs will again be Stags Leap. Shafer has replaced its Napa Valley wine with One Point Five, which combines fruit from several plots. The key is its 25-acre Borderline vineyard, bought in 1999, which helps provide enough fruit to make 6,000 cases. The name winks at not-quite-two generations of family winemaking between founder John Shafer and his son Doug.
"We're excited because we're going back to our roots," says Doug Shafer. "Stags Leap Cab is where we cut our teeth."
The ever-so-approachable 2004 Shafer One Point Five Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon ($65) offers lavish doses of warm oak, chocolate and plush blackberry, with a plump finish.
-- Jon Bonni