2014 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

Robert Parker Wine Advocate, Lisa Perrotti-Brown

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon has a drop-dead gorgeous nose of Sichuan pepper, hoisin, peppered salami and fertile loam over a core of blackberry preserves and redcurrant jelly with touches of kirsch and pencil shavings. Medium to full-bodied and concentrated yet still maintaining that wonderful purity and elegance that is the signature of this estate, it has layer upon layer of earthy nuances and a very long finish. 98+ points (October 29, 2018)

JebDunnuck.com, Jeb Dunnuck

The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate shines for its incredible purity of fruit, and it shows the vintage’s seamless, supple, incredibly charming, and approachable style. Perfumed notes of red, blue, and black fruits as well as white flowers, graphite, and spice define the nose, and it has a great mid-palate, velvety, supple tannins, no hard edges, and both breadth and length. It’s still a baby yet offers incredible pleasure. Given its balance, it’s going to evolve for 30-40 years. 98 points (August 23, 2021)

AndrewHarper.com, Hal Oates

As the Andrew Harper wine concierge, I judged more than 1,000 collector-level wines and visited over 100 wineries worldwide in 2017. My team and I at Porthos, a custom sommelier service, shared our best-of-the-best new discoveries with thousands of savvy Andrew Harper wine collectors last year. Here I reveal some of my most memorable new wine discoveries and experiences from 2017. “Top 10 Rare Wines – Best New Napa Cabernet: Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon” (January 4, 2018)

Wine.com, Wilfred Wong

My #1 Wine of the Year: The 2014 Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon may be one of the best wines of the vintage. On this day, I tasted nearly 100 of some of the best Cabernets from the Americas, and this wine stood alone as if there were no other wines in the room. This wine opens up with delightful and distinctive aromas of red to black fruits, a dusting of cocoa powder to capture me under its spell. Its palate is layered and superbly structured. The sweet tannins keep it all together before its crescendo of a long, lasting, and memorable finish. 100 points (October 30, 2017)

Wine Enthusiast Advance Buying Guide, Virginie Boone

Nuanced, with 10% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot, this is a quietly powerful wine, smooth and structured and immediate in its beauty, yet possessed of legs to cellar for 20-plus years. Crushed flowers and rocks open on the nose, providing a clutch of minerality, as grippy tannins support red currant, plum and a freshness of persistent acidity. Try to wait on this one. Best 2024 through 2034. 98 points, Cellar Selection (May 2018)

Wine Review Online, Mary Ewing-Mulligan

The 2014 Spottswoode Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is the current release of the winery’s flagship wine. This is one of the finest California Cabernets I have ever tasted. A tasting note that dissects the components of this wine’s taste – its full body, its black- blue- red-fruits aromas and flavors with toast and cedar and lead pencil, its supple tannins – seems beside the point. This is a magical Cabernet that enters your mouth smooth and velvety and grows into roundness and harmony before subsiding with a long, resonating finish. Nothing of the linear Cabernet Sauvignon structure here, no concentrated fruit held within a controlling frame of tannin. Instead, this wine blossoms in your mouth and holds there, an integrated whole, somewhat akin to the expression of a great Pinot Noir. The 2014 Spottswoode Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is so beautiful now that I wonder what advice to give collectors; ultimately, I believe it is so balanced and integrated that it cannot but evolve for twenty years or more. 98 points (February 13, 2018)

Vinous Media, Antonio Galloni

Spottswoode 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon is striking. Black cherry, plum, graphite, spice and menthol are some of the signatures. Intensely mineral and savory, the 2014 comes across as a slightly restrained version of the 2013. The flavor and tannin profiles are both quite similar, but the 2014 is a bit smaller-scaled in all of its dimensions. That is not a bad thing, as the 2014 will be ready to drink sooner. This is an impressive showing. 96 points (December 2016)

JamesSuckling.com, James Suckling

Amazing burnt-orange and currant aromas with tar and lead pencil. Blackberries, too. Changes all the time. Mesmerizing. Full-bodied and powerful with super-polished tannins and a long and intense finish. The polished and fine tannins coat your mouth. Glorious. Needs three to four years to soften. 96 points (January 27, 2017)

Vinography, Alder Yarrow

The indisputable star of this week’s tasting was the 2014 Cabernet bottling from Spottswoode, which is one of my favorite producers in Napa. This bottle is everything a good Napa Cabernet can be: powerful, refined, and delicious. Give it 5 years and watch it sing. Inky garnet in the glass, this wine smells of cherry and tobacco leaf and a touch of pencil shavings. In the mouth, gorgeous and juicy flavors of cherry and tobacco and espresso are gripped in a muscular fist of fine-grained tannins. Fantastic acidity keeps the fruit juicy and the finish is long and aromatic with cedar and cocoa powder. Outstanding. 9.5/10 points (December 2, 2017)