This is a wine that encapsulates the strengths that make Shafer one of Napa’s great wineries: the skill and intuition of winemaker Elias Fernandez, and the entrepreneurial spirit of the Shafer family. A couple harvests ago, Elias came to the table with a proposal. He wanted to make a wine with the best fruit from a small collection of the winery’s vineyard sites just south of Stags Leap District. Elias didn’t want to be bound by variety or percentages. He wanted excellence. Needless to say, it was a very good thing that John and Doug Shafer accepted that proposal.

The name references John Shafer’s early days as a Napa pioneer who, in the space of a few months in 1973, went from riding morning commuter trains in Chicago to teaching himself to drive an ancient tractor (a TD-9) left behind in his vineyard property’s drive shed.

Elias selected fruit from Shafer’s hillside vineyards in Stags Leap District and Yountville, as well as from a vineyard in the foothills of the Vaca Mountains just south of Stags Leap. TD-9 is an opportunity to take the best fruit from these vineyards each year to create the most compelling wine the vintage can offer.

With the 2021 vintage, TD-9 becomes Shafer Vineyard’s newest Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is a rich, vibrant expression of some of Shafer’s favourite Napa Valley vineyards. Comprised of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, 10% Petit Verdot, and 3% Malbec.

Fills the glass with irresistible aromas and flavours of fresh black cherries, black currant, red plum, thyme, rose petal, and cocoa. Lush and mouth-filling, with complexity and structure.

“This TD-9 Cabernet Sauvignon, not to be confused with other TD-9 red wines, shows an amazing clarity of dark fruit. Its deep black cherries, blackberries and touches of black olive embody classic Cabernet. Beautifully integrated tannins lend a posh texture that’s still bracing enough to help the wine age and improve. Best from 2026–2036.”
95 points, Jim Gordon, Wine Enthusiast, December 2023