2010 Spottswoode Lyndenhurst Cabernet Sauvignon Young Vines
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Tasting notes
Rosemary Cakebread instigated this second label in the hot vintage of 2002. Built in Spottswoode idiom with a little more approachability. Over time the quantity varied to an uncommercial extent so now, since 2008 or 2009, in addition to their own, they buy in some fruit from four growers on long-term contracts including one in Atlas Peak, near Napa, and Young Inglewood just south of Spottswoode in St Helena. Cool vintage with some heat spikes. About 2,000 cases. Light nose and very pure ripe Cabernet. A real charmer even if there are some quite noticeable tannins on the end that actually add brio. (JR)
Critic scores
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Jancis Robinson MW
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Contains 1.5% of each of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Aged for 19 months in French oak, 40% new. Glowing crimson. Rich and ripe on nose. Succulent and glossy. Sweet end. Food wine. Rich but not at all heavy. Very different from the more open 2011. A fine wine by any measure but still a little reserved. Just 751 cases made. (JR)
Bright red-ruby. Dark berries, menthol and a hint of tobacco on the nose. Soft, ripe and plush but not at all cooked, with sweet berry and milk chocolate flavors offering considerable immediate appeal. This fruit-forward second wine finishes with building tannins. Very successful for this bottling. Beginning with the 2011, the label will not say St. Helena.
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.