Shafer’s Red Shoulder Ranch vineyard in Carneros is home to countless gophers who love to feast on young vine roots. To contain this problem, Shafer erected owl nesting boxes and hawk perches to encourage day and night rodent patrol. The Red-shouldered hawks and other birds of prey do such an outstanding job that the vineyard was named in their honour.

This vineyard offers a long, consistently cool growing season that is ideal for retaining acidity in Chardonnay fruit. Grapes were harvested by hand, then whole cluster pressed. To focus on varietal flavours, Shafer only uses wild yeast for fermentation and does not put the wine through malolactic fermentation. The majority of the wine spends 14 months aging in new French oak barrels. The remainder matures in stainless steel “barrels” (plenty of fine lees contact from the low horizontal profile, but no oak influence).

No matter what time of year you open this wine, you’ll have a taste of summer in Napa Valley. Lush aromatics fill the glass with white flowers, lemon zest, honeysuckle, clove, and flint. There is a rich balance of liveliness and density in the mouth with abundant flavours of apricot, white melon, grapefruit peel, ripe pineapple, and minerality, with a beautiful finish that goes on and on.

“So ripe, full and generous, with a full body and a big presence. Lovely apple blossom and lemon zest aromas with juicy apple and Bartlett pear flavors on a foundation of lively acidity. An element of chalky, mineral notes adds complexity and freshness, giving a linear feel to this big, bold wine.”
96 points, James Suckling, October 2024

“Shafer’s 2023 Chardonnay Red Shoulder Ranch was bottled in July 2024 and was released in September. It’s a distinctive style that eschews malolactic fermentation and marries barrel fermentation and maturation in new French oak (40%) with stainless steel drums (60%). Marked by bright pineapple and lime aromas, this full-bodied effort comes across as ripe and succulent while being fresh and zesty at the same time, with a lingering, citrusy finish.”
93 points, Joe Czerwinski, Wine Advocate, October 2024