1996 Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon Estate
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Tasting notes
Made by Pam Starr in whose era they instituted the Lyndenhurst bottling for young-vine fruit after the replanting programme. 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc. This was the first wine of the tasting (so far we had tasted 2021, 2016, 2011, 2006 and 2001) that was not deep crimson. It was very slightly transparent crimson wiht a little ruby at the rim! Looser-textured than some with notes of balsam and a savoury finish. (JR)
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
The last of the Pam Starr vintages, with production now dropping to just over 4,000 cases from the high of 5,800 in 1991, the 1996 is a blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc. A hot year, again, with plenty of heat spikes, produced a more one-dimensional style of Spottswoode, but with a dense ruby/purple color. Notes of black and red currants, earth, menthol and cedar. The wine is medium to full-bodied, big, dense, slightly rustic, but ripe and chewy. I doubt it will develop much charm and finesse, as the great vintages do, but it is certainly solid, mouthfilling and savory. Drink it over the next decade.
Deep, fresh dark red. The darkest vintage to this point in its fruit character, offering complex aromas of blackberry, cassis, boysenberry, smoke, minerals, licorice, tar and flowers. Juicy, spicy and densely packed, conveying a lovely suave, fine-grained texture to its vibrant dark berry and mineral flavors. A firmly tannic wine with terrific energy, and an outperformer for the vintage.
Quite pale, relatively simple colour. Low key nose. Very slightly feeble. No great subtlety. The texture is a bit jagged too. Not harmonious. And the finish is a little hot and sweet. Drying out. Cool vintage, though to be charming in youth. (LM)
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.