Community Tasting Notes 36

• RJWallis wrote: 93 points

  December 31, 2022 - Needs a lot of air, 2 hour decant, but in its sweet spot at 4 hours in the decanter. Muted nose but gorgeous notes of leather and chocolate on the palette Smooth polished tannins. Not a particularly complex wine but paired well with Beef Wellington.

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• Cailles wrote: 91 points

  December 18, 2022 - 17x Spottswoode (2x SB, 5x Lyndenhurst, 10x Estate Cab): Five vintages of Lydenhurst Cabernet Sauvignons side-by-side. These are good wines which share the signature (Napa) weightless structure and feel but the wines don’t have the substance and the complexity of the Estate wines and remain a bit simple. In addition, in all but the 2019 there were some alcohol notes detectable (especially on the nose). Still, pleasant, early drinking wines. Best wine was the 2019 (92pts), followed by the 2012 and 2018 (91pts).
  
  TN: Expressive nose displaying intense candied dark berries and tobacco and a minerality component. Just a touch alcohol taking a bit away from the otherwise good nose. On the palate quite round, velvety texture and tannins, good freshness. No excess with fine dark and blue berries, some herbs and earthy notes. Overall well-defined but quite simple and rather short.
  
  Decanting: Opened 6 hours prior to the tasting. Quickly double decanted 2 hours prior to the tasting. No extensive decanting needed.

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• sirpat00 wrote: 92 points

  December 8, 2022 - Spottswoode tasting (Widder (Meilen ZH)): Spottswoode tasting with proprietor Beth Novak-Milliken with 10 vintages Spottswoode, 5 vintages Lyndenhurst, 2 vintages Sauvignon Blanc. All bottles were opened at 15.00 and briefly decanted for the event which started at 19.00. Main observations were: i/ The flagship Spottswoode was typically light and elegant for a Napa Cab with 2013 being the wine-of-the-night (closely followed by 2014, 2019 and 2020, ii/ the Lyndenhurst tends to be rather extracted and lacking mid-palate presence, although the 2019 broke this rule and was towering over the rest. Brief history, snippets from Beth and complete list of wines included in the tasting story.
  
  Tasting note:
  Good intensity here with early signs of aging notes of earth and tobacco, black currant and ripe cherry fruit, iodine type of minerality. Tannins were well integrated at this pin, but the palate nonetheless couldn‘t help feeling a bit overpowering and was also leaning too much on the acidity side of things – but does add a palatable fresh cranberry touch. Towards the finish tannins pop back up leaving you with sub-optimal balance. This is a nicely maturing wine fully in the drinking window.

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• acristiani Likes this wine: 92 points

  April 9, 2022 - Black currants, chocolate, velvety tannis, endless aftertaste. Full bodied even at lower than average alcohol. Can easily mature some more.

  Comment

• mischwine wrote: 92 points

  November 20, 2021 - decanted for three hours prior to enjoying. surprised by the maturity - really delicious wine!

  Comment

Pro Reviews 3

Wine Definition

• Vintage 2012
• Type Red
• Producer Spottswoode
• Varietal Cabernet Sauvignon
• Designation n/a
• Vineyard Lyndenhurst
• Country USA
• Region California
• SubRegion Napa Valley
• Appellation St. Helena
• UPC Code 000004244714

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 1 (0%)
• In Cellars 662 (49%)
• Consumed 698 (51%)

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