Best Wine Tasting of the Week

Napaman was invited to Spottswoode’s Summer Garden Party, in St. Helena, today, one of my fondest annual winery events.

The wine is always good, the food is fabulous (catered today by Oak Avenue Catering), and the setting can’t be improved.

The setting, poolside.

The Novak/Milliken clan invite a few hundred of their faithful club members to the garden event, and let them taste old and new wines, paired with salads, cheeses and hearth-fired pizzas.

Beth Novak Milliken, President of the winery, standing behind a 6L bottle of impeccable juice – the 1999 Spottswoode Cabernet.

The highlight of this year’s event was a 6-liter bottle of 1999 Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon, poured from 750 mL bottles into which the elixir had been transferred.

I found this ’99 to be one of the best wines of my week, a gorgeous, elegant achievement, just entering a delicious level of maturity. It’s rare to find a California Cab exhibiting the pronounced blackcurrant nuances typically found in Bordeaux wines – but this beaut has the profile in spades. 

I scored this wine a strong 95 points, maybe even 96 points. Simply gorgeous.

This was Rosemary’s Baby, so to speak -- Rosemary Cakebread was winemaker here when the grapes were harvested and the wine made. Beth Novak Milliken, president of Spottswood, esays "this is Rosemary's favorite wine from the decade of the 90s.” 

Napaman asked Beth what are her own two favorite Spottswoode Cabs from the 90s:

“This ’99 for sure, and our ’93, also elegant, balanced and delicious.”

Speaking of '99  Napa ValleyCabs, another outstanding wine, which I had this week, also the 1999 Clos du Val Cabernet Sauvignon from Stag’s Leap District.

This was another mature, mouth-thrilling, Cabernet with harmonious blackcurrant and cedar notes. Easily a 94- or 95-point wine. 

Maybe it’s time we headed to our respective cellars to revisit some of our stored ’99 Napa Valley Cabernets. It appears their 15 minutes of fame is just about to shine.