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Tasting notes
The fully mature 2002 Firebreak reveals notions of strawberries, cherries, loamy soil, and tar. Medium-bodied and food-friendly, it is best drunk over the next 1-3 years. Shafer Vineyards, one of the most impeccably run wineries in the world, is a wonderful family operation that deserves all the success they have earned. Tel. (707) 944-2877; Fax (707) 944-9454
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
(mostly sangiovese with a bit of cabernet sauvignon) Full red-ruby color. Plum , black cherry, mocha and tobacco on the nose. Soft and mellow, with slightly roasted flavors of plum, currant and chocolate. A medium-bodied wine of moderate verve and complexity, given shape by some edgy acids and dusty tannins.
Deep, lustrous crimson. Much more obcvious ripeness on this wine, whch contains nine per cent Cabernet. The pruney side of Sangiovese taken to its really very delicious limit. There is a high register of tannin underneath all this velvety fruit but they are fully ripe. This seems more alcoholic than the 2001. Very winning – definitely Sangiovese but with a Napa Valley polish. Defiantly sweet – quite different in style if not quality from the more austere 2001. (JR)
(93% sangiovese) Dark, bright red. Aromas of redcurrant, bitter cherry, dried rose, nuts and iron. Supple, sweet and pliant, with firm-edged currant, plum, tar and chocolate flavors complicated by an intriguing note of dried flower. A very interesting fuller-bodied version of sangiovese. Tangy finish features ripe tannins.
About the producer
The site of Shafer has been around since 1880, and grapes continued to be grown here, even during prohibition. It is said that some wine was made here during that time. In 1972, John Shafer bought the property in the Stag’s Leap district, he immediately began planting the Cabernet on the hillside.