1999 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
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Tasting notes
Great cool vintage, made when Rosemary Cakebread was winemaker. Very deep crimson. First bottle just lacking a bit of fruit directness. A little drying on the end. A second bottle opened. Cork crumbles. Still-lively layered crimson. Nuanced and saline. Super-fresh and transparent. Racy and lively and fresh. A tiny bit of heat on the end. Minerally. Amazingly long. Such a treat. (JR)
Critic scores
Robert Parker
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
High-toned aromas of blackberry, boysenberry, licorice, violet and herbs. Densely packed and juicy, with its dark berry flavors given definition and lift by repeating licorice and violet qualities. This very suave, fine-grained wine finishes with firm but totally integrated tannins and sneaky rising floral length. When I tasted this wine as part of my Spottswoode vertical back in 2016, I thought it was just short of its peak. Now it has arrived, and this sample did not show the faint leathery quality of my last one, suggesting it should remain fresh for a good while. (ST)
In 1999 production fell below 4,000 cases, but the blend stayed the same: 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc. This is a vintage that has always been tightly structured, with plenty of tannin and acidity. The 1999 Spottswoode exhibited that firmness and slight austerity with notes of black olive, cassis, dark cherries and chocolate in a tannic, earthy, spicy, medium-bodied style that still doesn’t seem to have hit its plateau of maturity. Give it another 4-5 years, but I am wondering, as I have with many 1999s, are they ever going to achieve the full potential that was predicted in their youth?
Bright crimson. Very sweet, fruit juice impression rather than wine on the nose! Slightly cheesey note? Pretty ripe! Then rather dry tannins. Did some grapes shrivel at all? Not the most appetising… A little inky and stringy on the finish. Very small crop. (LM) (JR)
About the producer
Spottswoode is one of those rare Napa estates whose reputation rests less on volume or spectacle than on persistent exactitude. Set on the western edge of St Helena, where the Mayacamas rise and afternoon breezes temper the valley’s warmth, the vineyard occupies a favoured pocket of the appellation.