Shafer Relentless 2007

Professional Ratings

• 96 Connoisseurs' Guide
  It is no exaggeration to say the 2007 version may just be the best Relentless to date, but even if not, it is a deep and formidable wine by any standard. Its inky appearance correctly implies a wine of great weight and extract, but, what separates this bottling from its equally well-filled predecessors is its terrific sense of structure and balance. It is tough to be sure, but it never lets go of its plentiful, peppery, blackberry fruit, and it will not come close to showing its best until at least another decade has passed.
• 95 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  The current release, the 2007 Relentless, exhibits a dense purple color as well as notes of grilled herbs, tar, blackberries, cassis, pepper and jus de viande. This full-bodied powerhouse should last at least 15-20 years.
• 94 Wine Spectator
  A gorgeous wine, ripe and juicy, with black cherry, plum and cur- rant flavors joined by spicy cedar, graphite, tobacco and dried sage. Full-bodied and powerful, yet retrained and ageworthy. Syrah and Petite Sirah. Best from 2012 through 2022.
• 93 Wine Enthusiast
  Relentless, a blend this year of mainly Syrah and Petite Sirah is always a very good wine. The '07 strikes one as, above all tannic and dry. Then the blackberry, black cherry, dark baker's chocolate, herb tea and smoked meat flavors kick in, impressing with their complexity. It's a distinctive wine quite unlike anything else in California. Despite the hard tannins, it's drinkable now, and will challenge chefs and sommeliers to figure out what to serve it with. The winemaker suggests braised short ribs, smoked lamb, roast duck and Cheddar cheese.