1990 Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon

Community Tasting Notes (58) Median Score: 91 points

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  1/22/2024 - JoeDwine Likes this wine: 91 Points

  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.

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  1/20/2024 - oldwines Likes this wine: 92 Points

  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

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  11/17/2023 - bbq_grandcru Does not like this wine: 50 Points

  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!

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  12/12/2022 - RockinCabs wrote: 78 Points

  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.

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  12/11/2022 - englishman's claret wrote:

  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.

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