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2018 Spottswoode, Cabernet Sauvignon, St Helena, Napa Valley, California, USA

  • Red
  • Dry
  • Full Bodied
  • Cabernet Sauvignon
Ready, but will improve
Jeb Dunnuck
100/100
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW
100/100
Antonio Galloni
99/100
Product: 20188115551
2018 Spottswoode, Cabernet Sauvignon, St Helena, Napa Valley, California, USA

Description

There is great freshness on the nose translated through menthol and herbaceous notes alongside a subtle salinity and wet stone. The fruit is also very present and ripe, lovely notes of ripe cassis, blueberry and gooseberry. There is also a hint of vanilla that is detectable. All in all, a very complex and intense nose that is well balance.

On the palate, the tannins are very fine and the balance with the acidity and wood integration are very well done. The black and red fruit are vibrant, almost crunchy. You also find herbaceous notes such as garrigue alongside a great freshness and salinity that were evoked on the nose.

A very well balanced 2018, one of the best Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon I have tasted.

Drink 2027 - 2050+

Yoan Bernard, Account Manager, Berry Bros. & Rudd (November 2021)

Colour Red
Sweetness Dry
Vintage 2018
Alcohol % 13.8
Maturity Ready, but will improve
Grape List Cabernet Sauvignon
Body Full Bodied
Producer Spottswoode Estate

Critics reviews

Jeb Dunnuck 100/100
One of the wines of the vintage, as well as a legendary Napa Cabernet that will compete with anything out there, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate reveals a deep purple hue as well as extraordinary notes of pure crème de cassis and blackberry-scented fruits intermixed with lots tobacco leaf, lead pencil, spice, and hints of flowers.Reminding me of the 2016 with its purity as well as its balance, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a layered, seamless texture, and a blockbuster of a finish. Based on 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Petit Verdot, this is a wine you don’t want to miss!It’s going to take 7-8 years to hit its early drinking plateau and cruise for 30-40 years in cold cellars.Drink 2028 - 2068jeb_dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (January 2021)
Drink 2028 - 2068
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (Jan 2021)
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW 100/100
Composed of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon from Spottswoode explodes from the glass with bombastic notes of crushed blackcurrants, fresh blackberries and wild blueberries with hints of cardamom, lilacs, incense and fragrant earth, leading into wafts of pencil shavings and crushed rocks.Medium-bodied, elegant and yet so, so intense, it has layers of bright crunchy fruit and mineral sparks galore, framed by exquisitely ripe, finely pixelated tannins, finishing very long and energetic. Wowsers.Drink 2023 - 2060Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Advocate (November 2020)
Drink 2028 - 2068
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, RobertParker.com (Nov 2020)
Antonio Galloni 99/100
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.Drink 2026 - 2048antonio_galloni, Vinous.com.com (January 2022)
Drink 2028 - 2068
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (Jan 2022)

About this wine

Cabernet Sauvignon

The most famous red wine grape in the world and one of the most widely planted.
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Spottswoode Estate

Spottswoode is a historic, family-owned Napa vineyard and winery renowned for its exceptional Cabernet Sauvignon. Established in 1882 by George Schonewald, the estate is distinguished by the pre-Prohibition Victorian building depicted on the wine label. Spottswoode was named by Mrs. Albert Spotts in 1910, and it was acquired by Mary and Jack Novak in 1972. Mary released Spottswoode’s first Cabernet Sauvignon in 1982, exactly one hundred years after the estate was founded.
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