Relentless 2022 Shafer

Tasting Notes

Blackberry compote, blueberry rind and bitter chocolate. Later, savory notes emerge, including black pepper, smoked meat and bay leaf. Petite Sirah lends grip in the mid-palate, while Syrah delivers the flavors. The tannins are dense but refined, and the finish is long and warm. Decant it and you can drink it now, but it will be even better in 3-4 years.

Grape Varieties

Relentless wine is dominated by Syrah, usually around 80%, with Petite Sirah filling out the rest. So why mix the two varieties? Syrah brings flavors of pepper, violets, and dark berries. Petite Sirah (despite the name, it's a completely different grape) brings deeper color, firm tannins and grip on the finish. In the Stags Leap area, where much of the land is planted to cabernet, this duo is rare. Case in point.

Cellaring Potential

The 2022 Relentless will likely be ready to drink between 2026 and 2042. Concentrated fruit from a hot September and a structural backbone from Petite Sirah mean this wine needs time. Store in the cellar at 12-14°C. The best time is after 10 years, when the oak is fully integrated and the tannins have weakened.

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.