Lot 17
Hillside Splendor

30 – 1.5 Liter Shafer Vineyards Hillside Select Cabernet (3 from each year 1994 – 2003)
Three (3) night luxury stay and spa experience for three (3) couples in Napa Valley
Private session with Karen MacNeil, host of the PBS show Wine, Food & Friends
Private cooking class with Hugh Carpenter
Private dinner with John, Barbara, Doug and Annette Shafer at their renovated winery
Dinner at The French Laundry to conclude the weekend

Shafer Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon is the flagship of Shafer Vineyards, produced exclusively from selected blocks of the family’s steeply terraced vineyards. The thin, volcanic soils produce small-berried fruit that yield wine of great depth with round, supple tannins. A true wine of place, it consistently expresses the rich fruit and velvety texture that has become synonymous with Stags Leap District Cabernets. Produced in limited quantities, Hillside Select has become one of the few top cult wines from Napa with a pedigree that spans decades.

For three decades, the Shafers’ estate winery has produced wines from this special property that has been called the unquestioned “star of the Stags Leap appellation.” Its winemaking team of John Shafer, Doug Shafer and Elias Fernandez has been in place for over 20 years; a repository of experience virtually unparalleled in New World winemaking. The insights gained from their decades of experience are dramatically demonstrated in this Magnum vertical.

This year's Honored Vintners offer a rare ten year vertical of Hillside Select in Magnums - three bottles from each vintage spanning 1994 to 2003, an incredible thirty Magnums of Hillside Select in total. The highlights of this collection are too numerous to list. Does one begin with the ripe, luscious 1994 or the flawless 1997, described by Robert Parker, Jr. as “one of the greatest young Cabernets” he has ever tasted? Perhaps you’ll choose the power and opulence of the 1999 or one of the “perfect pair,” the 2001 and 2002 Hillside Selects?

While those big bottles cool in your cellar, you and a group of friends (three couples total) can revel in a Shafer “all-access” pass to the best of Napa Valley during a three night luxury stay and spa experience. Learn the secrets of fine wine in a private session with Karen MacNeil, host of the popular PBS show Wine, Food and Friends and author of The Wine Bible. Discover how to get the most out of food and wine in a private class with Hugh Carpenter, author of more than a dozen cookbooks and instructor of the Shafers’ favorite cooking classes.

During your stay, John and Barbara Shafer and Doug and Annette Shafer will host a dinner for the group at Shafer Vineyards’ beautifully renovated winery. Your all-access pass to Napa Valley winds up in Yountville, with a dinner at the incomparable French Laundry. Access granted!
Insider’s Info: Airfare to Napa Valley is not included. Visit to be scheduled on a mutually agreeable date.

DONORS: The Shafer Family of Shafer Vineyards