Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews. Learn more.
Manage Subscriptions1990 Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Sauvignon
- USA
- California
- Napa Valley
Community Tasting Notes 58
-
JoeDwine Likes this wine: 91 points
January 22, 2024 - With Lamb chops…..
Interesting bottle….seemed Dead upon opening and very thin but what an hour decant will do.
Mild cassis, mint, slight earth, rhubarb,cinnamon and a beautiful sweetness that surprised me. Whisky/sauternes note shows it’s age though still can seem fresh from a slightly colder sip. Decent acidity and strong finish. Probably best to drink up.
Range from 88-93 points
At 3 hour mark it is showing black cherry, crushed rocks and licorice. Match sticks? Very fresh. Crazy time with this wine. -
oldwines Likes this wine: 92 points
January 20, 2024 - In my cellar since release, decanted at 5pm and tasted over several hours. The wine looks quite youthful with medium dark garnet and little to no bricking. Very old-school, Cali cab (thankfully) with a very Bordeaux-like funky nose, as well as cassis, pencil lead, lots of earthy notes and some chocolate, cedar and tobacco the\at emerge with a little air. Palate is less expressive than the nose at least in the first hour, but I suspect will open with more time (I’ll update later). Finish is quite long. Tannins are barely present with a silky texture to the wine. Still bright with acidity, certainly not flabby. I know there have been a number of bad reviews of this wine but this bottle seems very close to pristine with no obvious flaws like VA or Brett as others have experienced.
Update- no improvement with more time in the decanter. I hoped it would open up some more but it didn’t. 93–>92 -
bbq_grandcru Does not like this wine: 50 points
November 17, 2023 - The prior negative reviews are accurate! There is something very wrong with this wine. Pure VA. I mistakenly thought I bought the Estate when I recently purchased this at auction. Had I accurately read the reviews I would not have wasted my money!
-
RockinCabs wrote: 78 points
December 12, 2022 - Same bottle as EC and I was on the fence about marking this as flawed, but looking at the notes this is just a wine with good or terrible reviews, and this reflects the poor end of the spectrum.
Not sure if there was a stuck fermentation in 1990, or other winemaking challenge, but the degree of VA and prune is astounding. The cork was perfect, no sign of heat damage, just a load of espresso bean, charred wood and volatile acid. -
englishman's claret wrote:
December 11, 2022 - Awful; a little volatile, slightly raisiny, seemingly marked much more by a hot vintage than its terroir. A huge disappointment. Pristine cork and fill. Same bottle as RockinCabs and I agree with his score, which I won't duplicate here so as not to skew the stats with regard to % of awful bottles.
Pro Reviews 3
Add a Pro ReviewJancisRobinson.com
-
By Jancis Robinson, MW
9/18/2016 (link)(Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon St Helena Napa Valley Red) Subscribe to see review text.
Vinous
-
By Stephen Tanzer
Vertical Tasting of Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon (Jun 2016), 6/1/2016 (link)(Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley) Subscribe to see review text.
JancisRobinson.com
-
By Jancis Robinson, MW
10/20/2006 (link)(Spottswoode, Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Red) Subscribe to see review text.
Wine Definition
- Vintage 1990
- Type Red
- Producer Spottswoode
- Varietal Cabernet Sauvignon
- Designation n/a
- Vineyard n/a
- Country USA
- Region California
- SubRegion Napa Valley
- Appellation Napa Valley
Community Holdings
- Pending Delivery 2 (0%)
- In Cellars 432 (45%)
- Consumed 528 (55%)
Food Pairing
Who Likes This Wine
More About This Wine
Articles
- ProducerSpottswoode
- VarietyCabernet Sauvignon
- CountryUSA
- RegionCalifornia
- SubRegionNapa Valley
- AppellationNapa Valley
Add Articles
- Wine1990 Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon (add)
- FamilySpottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon (add)
- ProducerSpottswoode
- VarietalCabernet Sauvignon
- CountryUSA
- RegionCalifornia
- SubRegionNapa Valley
- AppellationNapa Valley