Shafer Vineyards
A Polaris Ranger takes you up the hillside blocks where Hillside Select grows, then you taste it. $295 a head, two hours, eight people at most.
Why go
The whole visit is organized around one Cabernet. A guide drives you by Polaris Ranger through the rugged hillside vineyards, onto the slopes and elevations Hillside Select comes off, and then you sit down to five current releases with that wine among them.1 The longer format pours a vertical of Hillside Select beside the current vintage, which is how you taste what the wine does with years on it.1 The bites that come with it are seasonal and come off local farms.1 Visits run Tuesday through Saturday, ten to four, by appointment only.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the format that includes the Hillside Select vertical. Tasting one wine across vintages tells you more than five different bottles will.1
- Avoid: arriving with a party. Two to eight guests, 120 minutes, $295 each.1
What locals & experts say
- Shafer Vineyards, on the vineyard run:
Guided by a member of our team, guests travel by Polaris Ranger through our rugged hillside vineyards, gaining rare access to the slopes and elevations where Hillside Select is grown, farmed, and shaped by the land.
1 - The same page, on the vertical:
Alongside the current vintage, the experience includes a vertical exploration of Hillside Select, offering a deeper understanding of the wine's longevity, nuance, and evolution over time.
1
That is the winery describing its own visit. I read nobody outside it on the wine this pass, so I have no critic's line to give you.
Good to know
- Days and hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 4pm, appointment only.1
- The winery publishes one price, $295 per guest for the 120-minute experience, two to eight people. The other formats on the page carry no fee.1
- Hygiene: not established. No inspection instrument for this county is on file here.
Verdict
could-visit — The visit is built around one wine and it does the thing most Cabernet visits skip: a Polaris Ranger takes you up onto the hillside blocks where Hillside Select is grown, then you drink it, and in one format you drink a vertical of it beside the current vintage. That is $295 a head for two hours, two to eight people, Tuesday through Saturday between ten and four, all of it off the winery's own page. Nothing published was read here on how the wine actually tastes, which is a real gap on a bottle this widely scored, so the rung is the offer and the access rather than a judged glass. Book a driver and go in the morning while the hillside is still cool.