Winemaker Notes
The 2022 Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon shows youthful tannins, bursting with wild strawberries, marionberries, and violets on the palate. Layers of graham cracker baking spice, cocoa powder, and toasted spice draw you in. A slight salinity ties it together.
Blend: 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, 5% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Recently released (September 2025), Spottswoode's 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon is perhaps slightly bigger than usual for this property but still retains a sense of freshness. Loaded with cassis and blackberries, it's full-bodied, plush and voluptuous, yet also long and mouthwatering on the finish. Wonderfully forward but balanced, the juicy fruit is successfully framed by silky, soft tannins.
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Jeb Dunnuck
A solid step up, with more density and depth, the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate is based on 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Petit Verdot and aged 20 months in 62% new oak. Ripe blackcurrants, mulberries, spicy wood, graphite, and floral notes all shine here, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a pure, layered, seamless mouthfeel, plenty of mid-palate depth, and outstanding length.
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Vinous
The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon is a wonderfully classy, polished wine. Today, the 2022 comes across as a bit soft, but it is such a charmer. Rose petal, bright red cherry/plum fruit, cedar and mocha build nicely in the glass. This comes across as a bit quiet, but all the estate signatures are present. It's an exquisite wine from Spottswoode.
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Wine Spectator
Delivers seductive flavors of mulberry, boysenberry and blackberry compote, along with gently singed alder, anise and black tea notes, plus flashes of iris and ink. Shows the more sedate energy of the vintage, but with range, form and definition. An impressive effort. Drink now through 2035.
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James Suckling
Very fruity and generous, bursting with cherries, blackberries and raspberries on the nose, and creamy blueberries and strawberries on the palate. Toast, cedar and savory nuances come out with more sips. Full-bodied, long and rich. Rather soft tannins. Drink or hold.
One of the most prestigious wines of the world capable of great power and grace, Napa Valley Cabernet is a leading force in the world of fine, famous, collectible red wine. Today the Napa Valley and Cabernet Sauvignon are so intrinsically linked that it is difficult to discuss one without the other. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that this marriage came to light; sudden international recognition rained upon Napa with the victory of the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1976 Judgement of Paris.
Cabernet Sauvignon undoubtedly dominates Napa Valley today, covering half of the land under vine, commanding the highest prices per ton and earning the most critical acclaim. Cabernet Sauvignon’s structure, acidity, capacity to thrive in multiple environs and ability to express nuances of vintage make it perfect for Napa Valley where incredible soil and geographical diversity are found and the climate is perfect for grape growing. Within the Napa Valley lie many smaller sub-AVAs that express specific characteristics based on situation, slope and soil—as a perfect example, Rutherford’s famous dust or Stags Leap District's tart cherry flavors.