Shafer Relentless 2016
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Winemaker Notes
The 2016 Relentless offers deep, elegant, meaty, gamey aromas and flavors that are pure Syrah. These are fused with blueberry, black pepper, wet stone, and black tea. The vintage offers an ideal balance of immensity and energy, along with a beautiful, silken texture in the mouth, a lengthy finish, and ripe tannins that promise many rich, memorable years ahead.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
I’ve consistently loved the Relentless cuvée from this team, which is always from a single vineyard and is Syrah-dominated, with about 10% Petite Sirah in the blend. The 2016 Relentless is sensational. Dense purple-hued with a sweet bouquet of jammy blackberries, ground pepper, charcoal, and some smoky, meaty notes, it’s a full-bodied, powerful, yet plush, even elegant Syrah that does everything right. Drink it any time over the coming 10-15 years.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a burly, muscular yet sophisticated wine, showing complex characteristics of black pepper, clove and garrigue. Woody oak underscores a robust palate of black plum, game and savory herb, with a velvety texture throughout. It’s a blend of 86% Syrah and 14% Petite Sirah. Enjoy from 2027– 2030. Cellar Selection.
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James Suckling
Strikingly fresh mountain herbs and blueberries, as well as a cedary and dark-stony edge with earthy nuances, too. The palate has a gently grainy feel with sleek, vibrant berry aromas and delivers a striking mix of berries and chocolate at the long, detailed finish. A blend of 90% syrah and 10% petite sirah. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
A gutsy red, with a polished texture and expressive blueberry and blackberry flavors, accented by smoky sage, espresso and pepper notes and finishing with well-framed tannins. Syrah and Petite Sirah. Best from 2021 through 2028.
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Shafer Vineyards has produced classic Napa Valley wines for more than 40 years.
Shafer’s wines, including its signature Cabernet Sauvignon, Hillside Select, are found in collectors’ cellars and on wine lists in top luxury hotels and restaurants throughout the world.
The vineyard and cellar teams, led by winemaker Elias Fernandez, cultivate more than 200 acres of Shafer-owned vineyards, sources for the winery's celebrated Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay, TD-9, One Point Five, Relentless, and Hillside Select.
The winery has a decades-long commitment to sustainability. Beginning in the 1980s Shafer embraced farming techniques that eliminate insecticides and herbicides, and carefully conserve water resources. In 2004 Shafer became the first winery in the U.S. to go 100% solar.
Undoubtedly proving its merit over and over, Napa Valley is a now a leading force in the world of prestigious red wine regions. Though Cabernet Sauvignon dominates Napa Valley, other red varieties certainly thrive here. Important but often overlooked include Merlot and other Bordeaux varieties well-regarded on their own as well as for their blending capacities. Very old vine Zinfandel represents an important historical stronghold for the region and Pinot noir is produced in the cooler southern parts, close to the San Pablo Bay.
Perfectly situated running north to south, the valley acts as a corridor, pulling cool, moist air up from the San Pablo Bay in the evenings during the hot days of the growing season, which leads to even and slow grape ripening. Furthermore the valley claims over 100 soil variations including layers of volcanic, gravel, sand and silt—a combination excellent for world-class red wine production.