2018 Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon Estate
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Tasting notes
Full bottle a heavy 1,545 g. Deep purplish crimson. Headily ripe with rich, ripe flavours but no alcohol on the end. A fine mix of balsam and black fruits. Beautifully balanced with freshness on the finish. Very pure, sleek Cabernet that tastes as though the grapes were picked at just the right moment. Clean finish. (JR)
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Clearly a stupendous effort but just far too young at this stage, Spottswoode's 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon boasts a concentrated, velvety core of black cherries, cassis and dusty loam, then supports it with hints of cedar and toasted oak. It's full-bodied, rich and youthfully intense, with a long, compelling finish that just won't quit. Give it a few more years, and it may indeed reach the perfection my predecessor predicted for it.
The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon is stunning, just as it was last year. A dark, ample, brooding Cabernet, the 2018 offers up the essence of black cherry, plum, mocha, spice, graphite, leather and incense. The 2018 has shut down considerably since I tasted it last year. That won't be a problem in a few years' time, but today the 2018 is decidedly brooding. Even so, it shows tremendous finesse and tons of pure breed. It is without question one of the epic, present-day wines for the estate. (AG)
Family-owned, organic and Demeter certified. 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, 5% Petit Verdot. Made with 100% organically farmed estate fruit. This wine is aged 20 months in 65% new French oak. Woodsy, rocky, with a lavender florality, blackberry, dried earth, oak bark, mulch, and powdery fine-grained tannin. An elegant, balanced wine. Having just tasted the Lyndenhurst and been assured that the coopers are much the same, it is amazing the difference in how oak expresses with different fruit; this one shows mulchy cedary aromas rather than the vanilla lactone of the Lyndenhurst. (SCJ)
About the producer
Spottswoode is one of those rare Napa estates whose reputation rests less on volume or spectacle than on persistent exactitude. Set on the western edge of St Helena, where the Mayacamas rise and afternoon breezes temper the valley’s warmth, the vineyard occupies a favoured pocket of the appellation.