Shafer Vineyards

Shafer's property has been the site of grape growing and commercial winemaking since 1880, and during Prohibition Batista and Maria Scansi, immigrants from Carlazzo, Italy, continued growing grapes there. John Shafer (d. 2019), a Chicago publishing executive, purchased the site in 1972 and spent the mid-1970s planting the hillside estate to Cabernet Sauvignon. He bought 209 acres, which then had 30 acres of vines dating from 1922, and planted his first Cabernet Sauvignon there in 1973 and 1974. In 1978 John Shafer made the winery's first Cabernet Sauvignon. The winery was completed in 1980; the first two vintages were produced off site. In February 2022 Shinsegae Property, based in Seoul, South Korea, acquired the winery through its U.S. subsidiary, Starfield Properties, Inc. The purchase price was not disclosed; Wine Spectator gave it as a reported $250 million, and The Press Democrat, citing the Korea Herald, as about $250 million.

• 1880: grape growing and commercial winemaking begin on the site
• 1972: John Shafer purchases the property; 1978: the winery's first Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1980: winery completed
• February 2022: acquired by Shinsegae Property of Seoul, South Korea

John Shafer's son Doug Shafer joined the winery as winemaker in 1983. The following year Elias Fernandez joined as assistant winemaker, hired three weeks before his 1984 graduation, having changed his major to winemaking at U.C. Davis in 1981. Fernandez shared co-winemaker duties with Doug Shafer for several years, and in 1994, when Doug Shafer became winery president, Fernandez took on the winemaker title. Fernandez grew up in Napa Valley, attended St. Helena High School and interned at Schramsberg Vineyards, Louis Martini Winery and Cuvaison during college. At the time of the 2022 sale, Fernandez and the core winemaking and vineyard staff were to continue with the winery, and Doug Shafer was also to stay on. Christopher Avery is CEO, Elias Fernandez is winemaker and Nick Holmes is VP Global Sales, and as of September 2026 Fernandez is celebrating 40 harvests on the property.

• Christopher Avery: CEO
• Elias Fernandez: winemaker; assistant winemaker from 1984, winemaker title from 1994
• Nick Holmes: VP Global Sales
• Doug Shafer: joined as winemaker in 1983; became winery president in 1994

Shafer's winery estate is in the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley. Total vineyard acreage is 240, planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Malbec, Merlot, Petite Sirah and Syrah. Hillside Select comes from 100% hillside vineyards in the Stags Leap District, including the estate blocks Sunspot, John's Folly, Hitching Post and Firebreak. The hillsides around the winery are volcanic in origin and very rocky, and are separated into 14 vineyard blocks. One Point Five draws on the hillside estate vineyards, the Borderline vineyard in the Stags Leap District and selected Napa Valley sites. The 2023 TD-9 came from the Stags Leap District, Yountville and a vineyard in the foothills of the Vaca Mountains just south of the Stags Leap District. Relentless is sourced from ridgetop and foothills sites along the Vaca Mountains just south of the Stags Leap District, and the 2023 Merlot from the Yountville AVA, Shafer's Southern Foothills vineyards on the lower slopes of the Vaca Mountains, and other vineyard sites. The Chardonnay comes from Red Shoulder Ranch, Shafer's estate vineyard in Carneros, a 70-acre property on Duhig Road purchased in 1988. The ranch is named for its Red-shouldered Hawks and other birds of prey, which control gophers in the vineyards.

• Total vineyard acreage: 240
• Hillside Select estate blocks: Sunspot, John's Folly, Hitching Post, Firebreak
• Borderline vineyard, Stags Leap District: a One Point Five source
• Southern Foothills vineyards, Vaca Mountains: a Merlot source
• Red Shoulder Ranch, Carneros: the Chardonnay source; 70 acres purchased in 1988

Shafer makes Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay, TD-9, One Point Five, Relentless and Hillside Select. Current releases also include a Merlot and a 2025 Sauvignon Blanc, the first in Shafer's history. Hillside Select, the flagship Cabernet Sauvignon, is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon; the 2022 spent 28 months in 100% new 60-gallon French oak barrels, and the wine is offered once per year to members of the Hillside Select Allocation List. One Point Five, the signature Cabernet Sauvignon, honors the founding partnership of John and Doug Shafer; the 2023 is 96% Cabernet Sauvignon and spent 18 months in 100% new French oak. TD-9 is named for John Shafer's first tractor, a TD-9 International Harvester that he taught himself to drive in 1973; the 2023 is 75% Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot. The first vintage of TD-9 was 2017. Relentless, a proprietary blend of Syrah and Petite Sirah, honors Elias Fernandez; the 2022 is 90% Syrah and 10% Petite Sirah and spent 28 months in 100% new French oak. Shafer established its first Merlot vines in 1981, and the 2023 Merlot is 90% Merlot. The 2024 Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay was whole-cluster pressed and fermented with wild yeast in individual barrels (40% oak, 60% stainless steel), with 0% malolactic fermentation, and aged 9 months.

• Hillside Select: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon; the 2022 aged 28 months in 100% new French oak
• One Point Five: the 2023 is 96% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Petit Verdot, 1% Merlot, 1% Malbec
• TD-9: the 2023 is 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, 7% Malbec, 7% Petit Verdot
• Relentless: the 2022 is 90% Syrah, 10% Petite Sirah
• Merlot: the 2023 is 90% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Malbec
• Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay: the 2024 is 100% Chardonnay with 0% malolactic fermentation
• Sauvignon Blanc: the 2025 is Shafer's first

John Shafer, Doug Shafer and Elias Fernandez created Hillside Select; the winery's Our Story page credits the three with forging "the trademark Shafer style of elegance, richness, and balance." Fernandez's winery biography credits him with forging "the winery's style of opulence, balance, and elegance." Shafer describes Hillside Select as expressing "the voluptuous flavors, rich aromas, and velvety texture that characterize grapes grown on our hillside estate."

• Shafer's Our Story page: "elegance, richness, and balance"
• Fernandez's biography: "opulence, balance, and elegance"

Shafer's commitment to sustainability spans 35 years. Its vine rows grow cover crops of clover, vetch, oats, bell beans and other plants, which eliminate the need for insecticides, and sheep mow between the vine rows in place of herbicides. Hawks and owls control gophers so that Shafer no longer puts rodent poisons in the soil. In the late 1980s Shafer replaced overhead sprinklers with drip irrigation, and in the mid-1990s it cleared four acres of Cabernet Sauvignon to dig a pond that stores winter runoff, with a capacity of 30 acre-feet. Shafer switched to solar power in 2004, and its arrays produce more than 200kW at peak. In 2023 it adopted Rover Vision, an A.I.-based imaging system from Tule, to guide irrigation. Its bottles have lost more than 30% of their weight in the past 10 years.

• Cover crops and sheep in place of insecticides and herbicides
• Hawks and owls in place of rodent poisons
• Late 1980s: drip irrigation; mid-1990s: a 30 acre-foot rainwater pond
• 2004: switch to solar power
• 2023: Rover Vision imaging system from Tule adopted for irrigation

The Stags Leap District became an official American Viticultural Area in 1985; the Napa Wine Project credits John Shafer with an instrumental role in its creation. The Firebreak block was planted after a 1981 fire threatened John Shafer's home, the winery's 8,000 square foot cave was built in 1991, and in 2016 Shafer donated 5 acres next to its Borderline Vineyard and the Napa River to the Wildlife Rescue Center of Napa County, a parcel known as the Shafer Sanctuary. In 2012 Wine Spectator named the 2008 Relentless its Wine of the Year.

• 1985: Stags Leap District becomes an official AVA
• 1991: 8,000 square foot cave built
• 2012: the 2008 Relentless named Wine Spectator's Wine of the Year
• 2016: 5 acres donated to the Wildlife Rescue Center of Napa County as the Shafer Sanctuary

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://shafervineyards.com/our-story/, https://shafervineyards.com/sustainability/, https://shafervineyards.com/winery-profile/, https://shafervineyards.com/trade/, https://shafervineyards.com/wp-content/uploads/Shafer-2022-Hillside-Select-Tech.pdf, https://shafervineyards.com/wp-content/uploads/Shafer-2023-One-Point-Five-Tech-Sheet-1.pdf, https://shafervineyards.com/wp-content/uploads/Shafer-2023-TD-9-Tech-Sheet.pdf, https://shafervineyards.com/wp-content/uploads/Shafer-2024-Red-Shoulder-Ranch-Tech-Sheet.pdf, https://shafervineyards.com/wp-content/uploads/Shafer-2022-Relentless-Tech-Sheet.pdf, https://shafervineyards.com/wp-content/uploads/Shafer-2023-Merlot-Tech-Sheet.pdf, https://shafervineyards.com/wp-content/uploads/Elias-Bio-2024.pdf, https://shafervineyards.com/wines/. Secondary sources: https://www.napawineproject.com/shafer-vineyards/, https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2022/02/16/napa-valleys-shafer-vineyards-bought-by-south-korean-conglomerate/, https://www.winespectator.com/articles/napa-s-shafer-vineyards-sold-to-korean-luxury-firm. Last verified 2026-10-12. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.