Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon (3 Liter Bottle) 2015
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Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: When the 1982 Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon was released, I had never even heard of this soon-to-become iconic winery. I was at a wine event in the middle of San Francisco Bay, and a fellow retailer mentioned to me, "I just got a wine that you can't get!" His smirk was memorable. Shortly after, I received a call from the winery asking me, "Would you like some 1982 Spottswoode Cabernet? We have five cases saved for you." That was the beginning of my love affair with Spottswoode Vineyard & Winery. Last night, our love grew to another level when I blind-tasted the 2015 vintage with three other world-class wines. TASTING NOTES: This wine started with gangbusters, but it took me a moment to separate it from the other three wines. It continued to grow and gain incredible dimension and now becomes one of the top five wines I have ever tasted in five decades in the wine business. The wine is bright, wild, pure, and offers incredible balance and length. Its enchanting aromas and flavors of ripe fruit and dried leaves, explode onto the palate and last forever. Pair it with an evening with your best friends and an excellent meal. (Tasted: June 18, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
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Jeb Dunnuck
A more exuberant, sexy wine than the 2014, yet still in the house style emphasizing elegance and purity, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate knocks it out of the park with its huge nose of crème de cassis, plums, Asian spices, scorched earth, tobacco leaf and graphite. This flows to a full-bodied, opulent, incredibly concentrated wine reminiscent of the 2013 on steroids. Full-bodied, with building tannin, integrated acidity, a stacked mid-palate, and a great finish, this is a tour de force in Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from one of the greats. It has three to four decades of life ahead of it.
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Tasting Panel
The Spottswoode estate has been farmed Biodynamically since 2008, thanks to the efforts of Winemaker Aron Weinkauf and President/CEO Beth Novak Milliken (before that, it had been organically farmed since 1985). This is a wonderful quote from Weinkauf: “While Biodynamics is not something you can directly taste, you can taste what it allows us to do. We can pick less ripe with lovely flavor development and energy in the grapes, which in turn lets us preserve the complexity that defines our wines.” A fragrant array of lilac-tipped blue fruit combines with slate and tobacco as red fruit kissed by chocolate and fresh soil streams forth on the mid-palate. Still young at heart, this is one for the ages.
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Wine Enthusiast
Fresh on the palate and floral on the nose in a bouquet of rose, lavender and crushed herb, this perennially beautiful, delicate wine benefits from the addition of 7% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot, also from the organically farmed estate. Pencil shavings, coffee and a touch of tobacco add to its savory, earthy nature, contributing to its overall structure and elegance. Enjoy best from 2025 through 2030 if you're able to wait.
Cellar Selection -
James Suckling
Glorious aromas of blackcurrant, sage and blackberry. Stone undertones. Full body, round and silky with a focused and bright finish of dark berry and mint. Goes on for minutes. Such finesse and balance. Coolness. Better in 2020.
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Wine Spectator
Features a gorgeous core of dark plum, blackberry and fig compote flavors that meld wonderfully with subtle anise, roasted apple wood and briar notes. A light tug of slatelike minerality through the finish adds to the range and depth. Well-built. Best from 2022 through 2040.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Evolving into a fine, mature wine that's balanced and even a bit restrained, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon combines hints of mint with cherry fruit on the nose, then glides easily across the medium to full-bodied palate in a wash of silky tannins before ending long and softly dusty. It's a refined, elegant effort that should continue to drink well for another 15 years or so.
Best After 2019
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Wine & Spirits
Aron Weinkauf makes this wine at the Novak family estate in the western benchlands of St. Helena. This is prime cabernet country and the 40 acres of vines consistently produce one of the region’s most elegant wines, this vintage more concentrated than most, balancing richly perfumed blueand blackberry fruit with the silkiness of its ripe tannins. Oak lends the wine a spicy perfume, as well as a toasty brioche scent, while the fruit holds freshness. This is the kind of grand Napa Valley cabernet that should be reaching its peak around ten years from the vintage.
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Spottswoode is an historic, family-owned estate vineyard and winery located on the western edge of St. Helena in Napa Valley. The estate was established in 1882 by George Schonewald, whose historic Victorian home is depicted on the label. Spottswoode was christened by Mrs. Albert Spotts, whose family owned the property from 1910 until its purchase in 1972 by Mary Weber Novak and her husband, Dr. Jack Novak. After Jack died unexpectedly in 1977, Mary carried out their shared dream, and Spottswoode’s debut Cabernet Sauvignon was produced in 1982, exactly one hundred years after the estate’s founding.
To ensure the highest quality, Spottswoode is dedicated to producing a handful of wines in very limited quantities: Spottswoode Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Lyndenhurst, and Field Book. The winery's goal is to produce exceptional, well-balanced, structured wines that exhibit texture, elegance, consistency and the ability to age well.
The 40-acre Spottswoode Estate Vineyard is an ideal terroir for growing wine grapes. Situated on the apex of the Sulphur Creek fan, the alluvial soils comprised primarily of sandy clay loam provide superb drainage. The gap between the Mayacamas Range and Spring Mountain admits cooling maritime breezes that temper the sun’s heat, creating an ideal microclimate for winegrowing. Among the first to introduce organic farming practices in the Napa Valley in 1985, Spottswoode is proud to have enjoyed the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) certification since 1992 and Demeter Biodynamic Certification since 2020. Spottswoode is also Napa Valley’s first Certified B-Corp winery.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
St. Helena is in the heart of the Napa Valley, nestled between Calistoga to the north and Rutherford on its southern border. On its western side, the Mayacamas Mountains guard it from the cooling effects of the Pacific Ocean; to its east stand the Vaca Mountains. In conjunction, these mountain ranges serve to lock in summer daytime heat. But in the evening, cool air from the San Pablo Bay funnels up through the valley, creating very chilly nights. It isn’t uncommon for temperatures to drop 50 degrees, a shift that promotes a balance of sugar ripeness and acidity in wine grapes.
St. Helena contains a plethora of different soil types in a small area, which have been enhanced over centuries by rain runoff from both mountain ranges. Its vineyards cover a variety of terrain, spreading across the bucolic valley floor and its benchlands.
These ideal topographic and climatic growing conditions easily caught the attention of early winemaking pioneers. In fact, St. Helena is the birthplace of Napa Valley’s commercial wine industry. Dr. Crane founded his cellar in 1859, David Fulton in 1860 and Charles Krug in 1861.
Today there are no less than 400 separate vineyards planted within the 12,000 acres that make up the St. Helena appellation.
Revered most for its red wines based on Bordeaux varieties, namely Cabernet Sauvignon, the St. Helena appellation is also a source of superior Syrah, Zinfandel and Sauvignon blanc.