2015 Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon Estate
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Tasting notes
The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon is a potent, dense wine. Huge tannins wrap around a core of dark red/purplish fruit, mocha, new leather, incense and cloves. The 2015 has aged well, but the tannins are overpowering. In its youth, the 2015 was packed with exotic, luscious fruit. Today, that fruit is a touch reticent. Crème de cassis, licorice, lavender and espresso build into the finish.
Critic scores
Average Score
The Wine Advocate
James Suckling
More reviews and scores
This bottle of Spottswoode's 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon showed better than the last one I reviewed, with more voluptuous fruit and an expressive, generous personality. Perhaps being double-decanted 20 minutes ahead of service helped. Prominent cedar notes join prune plums, black cherries and a hint of dark chocolate. Full-bodied, this rich, dense and weighty wine closes with a velvety mouthfeel, great length and a seductive touch of licorice.
Both the 2016 and 2015 are pure perfection and an incredible back-to-back duo. The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate has a kiss of 2007 in its massive, full-bodied, yet incredibly pure style, and it’s overflowing with cassis and blueberry fruits as well as lots of floral and cedary nuances. It’s a big, ripe, exuberant beauty, yet it never goes over the top, and has flawless balance, perfect tannins, and a great finish. As with most truly great wines, it’s drinkable today and will be drinkable in 10 years – and in 30 years.
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.