"Delightfully complex, elegant, rich and subtle, with a core of ripe, spicy currant, black cherry and plum that's pure and focused, supple and juicy, with an amazing finish that reverberates with flavor. Shows great balance, concentration and persistence. Best from 2010 through 2020."
98 Points
Wine Spectator

 

"Very perfumed with spices, blackberries and currants, hints of mushrooms develop with time in the glass. Full and silky, with ripe juicy tannins and wonderful fruit. Hints of vanilla bean and dark chocolate on the finish. Pull the cork after 2014."
95 Points
James Suckling

 

 

"Mind-blowing aromas of dark fruits, forest flower, pine needles and Asian mushroom. Black olives too. Full body and very fine tannins, elegant and refined. It goes on for minutes. Breathtaking. Burgundian in uniqueness and texture. Perfect now. Drink or hold."
99 Points
James Suckling

 

"Bryant's flagship wine, the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon from the estate vineyard on Pritchard Hill offers a rare but magnificent forest floor/floral aromatic profile with lavishly rich, ripe notes of crème de cassis, blueberry and black raspberry liqueur. Fleshy, opulent, full-bodied and multidimensional, it conceals some significant tannins behind its wealth of extract and fruit. From a first-growth quality, hillside vineyard (13 acres), this 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is gorgeously pure as well as impeccably well-balanced with a seamless integration of tannin, acidity, alcohol and wood. In fact, the new oak component, which is significant, is largely obliterated by the wine's stunning fruit. This majestic Cabernet Sauvignon should age effortlessly for 25-30 years."
98 Points
The Wine Advocate

 

 

"The flagship wine, the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate, comes from a magnificent hillside vineyard overlooking Lake Hennessey (13 acres) and is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine has an incredible track record, with some legendary efforts such as the 1995, 1997, and most recent vintages since 2005, as well as the 2013 all beauties. The classic purity of blueberry and blackberry fruit as well as white flowers and subtle background oak is followed by a full-bodied, voluptuously textured, multi-layered wine that is stunningly lush, with sweet, sweet tannin and beautiful purity and length. This excellent wine can be drunk early on or cellared for another 25 or more years."
96 Points
The Wine Advocate

 

"Bright medium ruby. Heady scents of blueberry, blackberry, licorice and graphite minerality are complemented by coffee and briney olive notes. Much less unctuous on the palate than the nose suggests; not austere but juicy, backward and firmly built. The wine's concentrated black fruit flavors are given sex appeal by graphite minerality and an element of sweet oak, with integrated acidity providing terrific definition and energy. This wonderfully suave, fine-grained wine possesses a serious tannic structure for a long and graceful evolution in bottle. I suspect it will be longer-lived than the 2012. Winemaker Marc Gagnon noted that 2013 was an ideal vintage that featured an early set and an early harvest, with no extremes."
96 Points
Vinous / Antonio Galloni

 

 

"Aromatic and vivid with blackberries, fresh mushrooms, blackcurrants and flowers. Full-bodied, firm and very silky. Tightly wound ball of silk. Extremely long and linear. Fine-grained. Lasts for minutes. Reminiscent of the great Napa reds of the 1950s and 1960s. Best to taste in 2025 but superb now. Greatest Bryant ever."
100 Points
James Suckling

 

"The flagship wine, the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon, which is always 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, has an amazing, pure, crème de cassis set of aromatics and flavors, an inky purple color, gorgeous purity, full-bodied opulence and all of the characteristics one expects from this great, first-growth quality vineyard on a steep hillside on Pritchard Hill. The finish goes on for a good 45-50 seconds and the wine shows slightly more structure than many 2014s, but is super-rich and concentrated, with at least 25-30 years of future drinking ahead of it as well as evolution."
97+ Points
The Wine Advocate

 

 

"The flagship wine, and one of the first in Napa Valley to emphasize the fabulous potential of Cabernet Franc in specific terroirs, is the 2013 Maya Proprietary Red Wine. This wine usually spends about 22 months in new oak and normally has anywhere from 45% to as much as 60% Cabernet Franc blended with the estate's Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2013 could well be the finest they've made to date, and that includes a lot of profound wines. An incredibly complex nose of charcoal embers, blackberry and cassis, some blueberries as well as white flowers, and a touch of forest floor is followed by a full-bodied wine with sweet, well-integrated tannins, a multi-dimensional mouthfeel, and a finish that goes on for close to a minute. This is absolutely remarkable wine - powerful, dense, but at the sane time, precise and elegant. It's hard to believe, but I think this wine can probably age and improve for 25-40 years. Don't miss it if you have access to it."
100 Points
The Wine Advocate

 

"The 2013 Maya is a bit more expressive today than the Cabernet Sauvignon. Deep, plush and vertical in its shape, the 2013 exudes intensity and pure power from start to finish. The Maya is another wine that will require considerable patience. Hints of black cherry, bittersweet chocolate, cloves, leather and scorched earth give the 2013 much of its brooding, powerful personality, but readers will have to give the 2013 at least a few years in barrel for it to be at its best."
97+ Points
Vinous / Antonio Galloni

 

 

             

"As I predicted last year, the 2013 Harlan Estate is one of their all-time greats, although they have had many of them, starting with the 1991, followed by 1994, 1995, 1997 (although controversial in some circles), 2001, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2012. This great first-growth property, with aspirations to produce the finest Cabernet Sauvignon-based wine made in the New World, has given us a wine that has it all in 2013. Dense purple to the rim, with notes of espresso, white chocolate, mocha, blackberry, cassis, and cedar wood, the wine is full-bodied, opulent, but also structured, pure and incredibly long (well past a minute aftertaste). It is probably closest in personality and overall character to the compelling 2001, which is still a youthful wine at age 15. Drink it over the next 50+ years."

 

"The 2013 Harlan Estate has really shut down since I tasted it from barrel a year ago. Dark, powerful and brooding, with plenty of tannic grip, the 2013 is a wine to buy and forget about for at least a few years. Black fruit, graphite, violet smoke and licorice are some of the signatures, but, here, too, the wine belongs to the future. I wouldn't dream of opening a bottle before its tenth birthday. The Harlan Estate is one of the most finessed - if not the most finessed 2013 - readers will taste. This is a stunningly beautiful, vivid wine."

 

"There are roughly 600 cases of the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Materium, all of which comes from the Weitz Vineyard on the eastern Vaca Mountain hillside of Oakville at an elevation of about 1,000 feet above the Silverado Trail. This is shallow soil interspersed with loads of pebbles and stones. This wine is incredible first-growth material - a magical Cabernet Sauvignon with an opaque purple color, an extraordinary nose of blackberry and cassis, white flowers, crushed rock and minerality followed by a full-bodied majestic mouthfeel with phenomenal balance, purity and overall equilibrium. Stunningly rich and impressive, this wine will hit its peak in 8-10 years and has the potential to last 40-50 years. For those who keep track of such things, the wine was completely aged in 100% new Darnajou and Taransaud barrels."
100 Points
The Wine Advocate

 

 

"Tasting the three most recent vintages of the Scarecrow Cabernet Sauvignon was not only a privilege, but also an intellectual and hedonistic turn-on. The 2010 Scarecrow Cabernet Sauvignon (100% Cabernet Sauvignon) is a magnificent wine. Full-bodied and opulent with terrific purity, an intriguing, gravelly, wet stone-like minerality, and a sensational perfume, it has a spectacular finish that lasted over 45 seconds, offering up copious quantities of black currants, black cherries, cedar and vanillin. It is one of the superstars of the vintage. It is accessible now because of the sweetness of the tannins, but make no mistake, there is plenty of structure underlying the luxurious fruit levels. It should drink well for 30+ years. "

 

"Vivid aromas and flavors literally jump from the glass in the 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon. All of the hallmarks of this great, historic site come through in the glass. Firm yet polished tannins support a core of expressive dark fruit, but ultimately it is the wine's textural finesse and polish that stand out most. The 2010 is all about delineation, balance and harmony. It is a terrific effort from the entire team at Scarecrow. 96+"

 

 

"The classic 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon included fruit from the 2-acre, old vine parcel that is nearly 70 years of age. It boasts an opaque purple color as well as copious notes of spring flowers, blackberries, black raspberries and wet rocks. The wine's gravelly minerality and spectacular opulence and density make it an instant classic. This massive, full-bodied 2012 should drink beautifully for 15-20+ years. It showed incredibly well last year, and it still reveals the potential to possibly merit a 3-digit score - it's that special."
98 Points
The Wine Advocate

 

"A compelling, exotic beauty, the 2012 Scarecrow impresses for its power and intensity. White flowers, spices and new leather wrap around a core of dark fruit as this imposing, structured Cabernet Sauvignon opens up in the glass. The 2012 needs time in bottle to drop some baby fat and develop more aromatic nuance, but it is absolutely captivating, even today."
96 Points
Vinous / Antonio Galloni

 

 

"The prodigious 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, including fruit from some of the oldest Cabernet vines still in existence in Napa. This full-bodied classic displays notes of forest floor, earth, crème de cassis, blackberry liqueur, licorice and some pen ink. It is dense, full-bodied, prodigiously rich, massive in intensity, yet relatively light on its feet. This great ballerina of a wine has extraordinary ripeness but pulls back from the edge before going over the top. There are 1,000 cases of this classic, which should age effortlessly for 30+ years."
100 Points
The Wine Advocate

 

"The 2013 Scarecrow is magnificent. Rich, opulent and intense, the 2013 is a prototypical modern Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon with tons of ripeness, no hard edges and exceptional polish. A host of ferrous, savory notes abound, but as usual here, Scarecrow is really about the whole package. The 2013 is still recovering from its recent bottling, but it is pretty special, even at this early stage."
97 Points
Vinous / Antonio Galloni

 

 

"The utterly perfect 2014 Scarecrow Cabernet Sauvignon (1,500 cases) has everything one could possibly want in a Cabernet. Inky purple-colored to the rim, with a glorious nose of white flowers, crème de cassis, hints of blackberry and boysenberry, some licorice and forest floor are followed by an enormously concentrated wine with fabulous purity, a skyscraper-like mid-palate and texture, a length of nearly a minute, and stunning flavors, with flawless integration of acidity, tannin, wood and alcohol. This is a great, great wine and certainly one of the Cabernet Sauvignons of this vintage. Drink it over the next 25-30 or more years."
100 Points
The Wine Advocate

 

"The 2014 Scarecrow comes across as understated and refined today. Some of that may be the personality of the year. The 2014 was also bottled relatively recently, which makes me think it could turn out to be even better than this note suggests. Soft, silky tannins and exceptional purity of flavor are two of the signatures in this exceptionally beautiful, captivating Cabernet Sauvignon. Scarecrow can often be powerful and virile. In 2014, however, it is a wine of finesse."
96+ Points
Vinous / Antonio Galloni

 

 

"The 2009 Screaming Eagle is insanely beautiful. It is a relatively open vintage that nevertheless possesses stunning intensity, depth and elegance. Dark red berries, flowers, mint and spices are all woven together beautifully. Layers of fruit build effortlessly to the long, seductive finish. The 2009 continues to flesh out in the glass. All of the elements are in the right place in the drop-dead gorgeous, stunning 2009. A haunting bouquet reminiscent of a great Musigny lingers on the finish. Anticipated maturity: 2017-2029."
98+ Points
The Wine Advocate

 

"Once again, the 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon pays homage to the 2007, but the aromas and flavors seems to be just a touch brighter, which might just be a function of the wine's age. A wine of remarkable precision, the 2009 is totally dialed in from start to finish. Layers of intensely sweet, perfumed fruit are woven together with remarkable elegance and sheer polish. Today, the 2009 isn't quite as radiant as it has been in the past, and seems headed for a stubborn phase. It is still striking, though. Even if a bit less exotic than the 2007, the two wines share a silkiness and overall sense of textural finesse. A translucent, weightless finish rounds things out in style. The 2009 is 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc and 5% Merlot."
98 Points
Vinous / Antonio Galloni

 

 

"Utter perfection, the 2010 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon (a 610-case blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot and 9% Cabernet Franc; 14.5% natural alcohol) boasts a dense ruby/purple color along with a staggering bouquet of spring flowers, graphite, creme de cassis, kirsch, licorice and subtle toast in the background. Opulent and full-bodied with a multidimensional personality, gorgeous purity and a stunning, flawless texture, this spectacular wine is among the wines of the vintage."
100 Points
The Wine Advocate

 

"Brilliant ruby-red. Urgent aromas of crushed boysenberry, wild herbs, licorice and spearmint are complemented by sexy oak tones. Densely packed and electric, with great energy to the highly concentrated, pliant flavors of black fruits, cocoa powder and flowers. Still quite youthfully backward, but the inexorable slowly mounting finish and big but noble tannins suggest a long and glorious evolution in bottle. Owing to the small clusters, thick skins and concentration of tannins, this wine got a longer elevage than usual, with the bottling done at the end of November 2012."
97(+?) Points
International Wine Cellar

 

 

"Mindlblowing nose with spearmint, cloves and blackberries. Floral, too. Full body with phenomenal detail featuring delicate but intense blackberry, espresso, toasted oak, caramel and dark chocolate. Cedar and sweet tobacco. Finesse all over. The wine of the vintage? Everything is there. Great energy."
99 Points
James Suckling

 

"A vivid, nuanced wine, the 2011 Screaming Eagle is absolutely impeccable. Dark red cherry, plum, smoke and licorice open up in the glass, followed by more savory notes that develop later. The 2011 gets better and better in the glass, as the flavors become even more precise and chiseled. Hints of pencil shavings, leather, cedar and menthol add nuance on the super-expressive finish. This is a stellar showing from Screaming Eagle."
96+ Points
Vinous / Antonio Galloni

 

 

"The perfect 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Screaming Eagle is composed of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc. Made in the classic, iconic Screaming Eagle style that the original proprietress, Jean Philipps, first showcased in the early 1990s, before the winery was sold to Stan Kroenke, the inky/purple-colored, seamless 2012 possesses an extraordinary set of aromatics consisting of pure blackcurrant liqueur, licorice, acacia flowers, graphite and a subtle hint of new oak. Full-bodied, opulent and voluptuous, this profound wine is as prodigious as I thought it would be last year when tasted from barrel. It should age effortlessly for 20 or more years."
100 Points
The Wine Advocate

 

"Incredible purity to this wine with fresh spearmint, lavender sprig and black currants. Full body, mind-blowing structure, depth and length. What complexity. Precision and decadence plus layers of sexy fruit. A new benchmark for Napa Valley. This is the new legend, like the 1958 Beaulieu Vineyard George de Latour Private Reserve (my vintage and a wine my father and I drank many times early in my life). Savory. Needs at least 10 years to come around. Try in 2025. A blend of 79% cabernet sauvignon, 17% merlot, and 4% cabernet franc. 820 cases made."
100 Points
James Suckling

 

 

"Breathtaking aromas of blueberry, wet earth, black truffle, vine bark and lavender undertones. Full-bodied, yet tight and compressed with fabulous savory and dark fruit flavors. It lasts for minutes on the finish. The classicism in this wine is second to none. Incredible subtlety. Lovely austerity. Beauty in simplicity. Glorious to taste, yet a wine for decades ahead. 76% cabernet sauvignon, 13% merlot, and 11% cabernet franc. 800 cases made."
100 Points
James Suckling

 

"Dark cassis, graphite and rich soil tones marry in a bouquet of notable purity, introducing a polished, rich and sophisticatedly savoury wine, impressive for its complexity, completeness and elegance. Nick Gislason, one of Napa Valley's most thoughful and compelling personalities, may well be crafting the most successful wines Screaming Eagle has ever produced. Interestingly, this address is now one of the earliest to harvest in all of Oakville."
99 Points
Decanter

 

 

"Extremely perfumed with blackberries, currants and flower. Rose petals, too. Seductive. Medium to full body. It grows on the palate with an extremely long finish that goes on for minutes. The tannins are ultra-fine and polished. Purity and essence to this. Feminine yet wild and unpredictable. Available in March. Better in 2021."
99 Points
James Suckling

 

"The 2014 Screaming Eagle looks like it is going to need a good few years at a minimum to really show its true colors. Although Screaming Eagle can be quite seductive in its youth, there is little of that in 2014. Virile and imposing, the 2014 possesses tremendous depth and equally formidable tannins. Graphite, gravel, smoke and herb notes give the 2014 its persistent, mineral/savory-infused profile. Screaming Eagle is less affected by its recent bottling than Second Flight. Still, I would not plan on opening a bottle anytime soon."
97 Points
Vinous / Antonio Galloni

 

 

"I should not be surprised that the 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select merited a perfect rating since I rated it 99 eight years ago. I also gave the 2002 Hillside Select a perfect rating. Kudos to Doug and John Shafer for creating two perfect wines in back to back vintages. The 2001 is a big wine (14.9% natural alcohol), but the alcohol is buried beneath an avalanche of creme de cassis, wood smoke, toast, licorice and spring flower characteristics. Super full-bodied with fabulous fruit purity, a broad, expansive mouthfeel, lots of glycerin and a huge upside, this 2001 is still an infant at age ten, but it is approachable as well as compelling to smell and taste. It has at least another three decades of aging potential ahead of it and is one of the great young, legendary classics from Napa Valley. It was a privilege to taste. There are approximately 2,000 cases of this cuvee which comes from Shafer's hillside vineyards in the Stags Leap area and is aged 32 months in 100% new French oak."
100 Points
The Wine Advocate

 

"No Cabernet smells better. This is an enormously attractive, well-oaked wine constituted from the best possible fruit. In the mouth, it immediately seduces. Shafer knows it has to rise to expectations with this wine, and the 2001 does not disappoint. The fruit is spectacular, all cassis. The oak is rich, flamboyant and delicious. Structurally, the wine has the best tannin-acid structure Napa is capable of. Immediately delicious now, this wine should develop over the next 10 years."
98 Points
Wine Enthusiast

 

 

"In contrast to the more linear, structured, but massive 2001, the 2002 Shafer Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select is pure fruit-bomb material, but stunningly proportioned, beautifully pure, with notes of melted chocolate, blackcurrant jam, sweet black cherries, licorice, camphor and charcoal. Very full-bodied, like the 2001, but much more lavishly fruited, it is more accessible and hedonistically, as well as intellectually, satisfying. If the 2001 is the long-distance runner, this comes across more like a middle-distancer. It had performed fabulously well since it was released by the winery, and even though it's still an adolescent in terms of its evolution, this wine is a head-turner in wine tastings, and a spectacular effort from Napa. Drink now or drink in 20-25 years."
100 Points
The Wine Advocate

 

"Very young, rich and extracted, this boasts a dense, powerful presence and tannic core flavors of blackberry, black licorice, cedar, mocha, roasted coffee, loamy earth, vanilla and dried herb. A tour de force of flavor, ending with ripe, muscular tannins."
97 Points
Wine Spectator

 

 

"The 2007 Sloan, now in bottle, has lived up to the extraordinary quality it exhibited from barrel. A world-class, perfumed nose of charcoal, espresso roast, white chocolate, black currants, sweet plums, Asian soy and a Grave-like scorched earth aroma soars from the glass of this dense purple-colored wine. Full-bodied and seamlessly constructed with a multidimensional mouthfeel as well as a phenomenal finish, this 2007 carries considerable tannin, but at present it is concealed by the wine's luxurious levels of fruit, glycerin and intensity. This spectacular 2007 should drink well for 25-30+ years."
100 Points
The Wine Advocate

 

"Saturated bright ruby. Superripe, exotic scents of black raspberry, truffle, coffee/mocha and caramel oak, with an exotic note of coconut emerging with extended aeration. Plush, dense, moderately sweet and superconcentrated, with its velvety, seamless dark raspberry and mineral flavors complicated by spices. Tannins are firm, dusty and nicely integrated, showing no aggressiveness. Finishes very long, with lingering spice character. This very full but also solidly structured wine was already rich and pliant in its early years. A very ripe style."