Relentless 2019 Shafer

Tasting Notes

First impressions: Black pepper and crushed blueberries, with a smoked meat feel underneath. On airing, the Petite Sirah comes to the fore: dark plums, violets and a touch of cocoa, emerging after many months of aging in French oak. The flavor is rich but not heavy. The tannins are firm and polished with oak, with a savory, iron edge on the finish, as is often the case with Stags Leap District. Decant it and you can drink it now.

Grape Varieties

Relentless is a Syrah-dominated blend, usually about 80% Syrah and the rest Petite Sirah. What is the role of Petite Sirah? Petite Sirah brings inky color, tenacious tannins and dark fruit. Syrah brings pepper, violets and fleshiness. In Napa's warmer climate, Syrah ripens more fully than in the Northern Rhône.

Cellaring Potential

The 2019 Relentless will keep until at least 2026, with consumption time extending to 2038 or later. It needs a few more years to fully integrate the tannin structure from Petite Sirah and about 30 months of aging in French oak. Store at 12-14°C. Expect the peppery and fruity flavors to shift to leather and tobacco with age.

The Producer

Shafer is a Napa-based name built on Cabernet, and Hillside Select has put them on the map for collectors around the world. But Relentless is a wine that shows what winemaker Elias Fernandez is capable of when he doesn't follow the Cabernet template. Fernandez joined the company in 1984 and has been making wine since the mid-1990s. The wines are named after his work ethic; in early 2022, the family sold Shafer to a newly formed corporation, but Doug Shafer and Fernandez stayed on. Best of Wines believes that continuity is more important than a change in ownership.

Terroir & Climate

The Stags Leap District AVA was approved in 1989, becoming Napa's first sub-AVA defined by soil rather than political boundaries. Why is this important to Relentless? The Stags Leap neighborhood faces the Vaca Mountains, where the Palisades rock outcrops radiate midday heat into volcanic loamy soils. This provides the heat needed for Syrah and Petite Sirah to reach full ripeness. However, sea air blown in from San Pablo Bay quickly lowers nighttime temperatures, keeping the acidity and peppery flavors characteristic of Syrah in cooler climates.

Winemaking

The deciding factor for Relentless is time. It spends about 30 months in French oak, with a much higher percentage of new oak than most Napa red wines. Why so long? Petite Sirah's tannins are aggressive when young, but they level off with extended aging in oak. Fernandez ferments both grapes separately, blends them late in the vintage and uses an optical sorter to leave only pure fruit. The result is a wine that tastes oaky on release, but mellows out nicely after a few years.

Food Pairing

Big tannins, big fruit, big food. Try:

• Smoked brisket sprinkled with pepper.
• Grilled lamb chops with rosemary.
• Braised short ribs in red wine.
• Aged gouda or sharp cheddar after dinner.

Serve at 17-18°C. If the wine is opened young, decant for 60-90 minutes.