Shafer Vineyards

New World, Old Wines

For the longest time, most serious wine drinkers adhered to the notion that California wines did not improve with age. These offerings were often exciting and much anticipated, but while everyone was tucking their first-growth Bordeaux into the farthest nooks of their cellars to peacefully wait out the decades, the best wines of California were […]

FrontRunners October 2014 LEISURE

Convivial Pursuit The art of winemaking is not unlike that of matchmaking: Success in either endeavor requires a keen understanding of relationships, as Doug Shafer, president of Shafer Vineyards, well knows. In 1984, after becoming the winemaker at his father’s estate in the Stags Leap District, Shafer made the propitious decision to hire Elias Fernandez […]