Decanted for one hour, saturated ruby to the edge, expressive nose fills the room, delicious with notes of blackberries, complex with a very long finish. Very elegant wine, very enjoyable to drink now with no signs of decline. Balanced and elegant, my kind of cabernet. 94 points.

My kind as well, Pam Starr did a great job with the '95!

red4life

Never had the 95 but last year I had a 91 and it was the best calif cab I ever tasted.

haven't had the 95 yet either, but also had the '91. Was so impressed I bought another magnum of the '91 recently in an auction.

The 1991 Spottswoode is an excellent wine, I have had it many times but I think the 1995 is just a bit better.

Perfect cork, 13.5% alcohol, rich nose of blueberries and blackberries, needed one hour to open. Seems perfectly balanced with elegant fruit, most tannin resolved and a real long finish. Delicious right now and will probably keep for a few years. 94 points

As soon as I saw the title, I figured it was Pippin posting.

I have a couple, and methinks I need to pop one soon. Thanks for the note...

The 95 is really good stuff. Opened one for no particular reason, and went wow, I need to buy more of this.

Hey Foghorn,

My mission is to keep you all informed on this great wine. Unfortunately, I only have two bottles and one magnum left.

Every time I see a posting on an early to mid 90's Cab....it's usually you. That's a good thing. Unfortunately, I still have all my early to mid 90's stuff in CA, and haven't found a chance to go get it. By the time I get to it, some of this stuff might be dead.

And for the record....I still think that '95 was an awesome vintage!

Perfect cork, decanted for one hour. Rich ruby color with no bricking, rich earthy nose, blackberries and blueberries, just kept getting better and better. Prime time, 95 points. Foghorn you are right, 1995 is a great vintage for Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

Served with grilled rib-eyes, grilled veggies (fresh from the garden), and baked potato (with fixings). Decanted 2 hours prior to serving.

Deep garnet color with minimal bricking. Nose of currants, blueberries cedar with a hint of earthiness. Medium-full bodied wine with balanced acidity and silky tannins on a medium-long finish. Very balanced wine that worked perfectly with the food. Drink now with decant or hold over the short term - this wine is far from being over the hill. Red guy "A."

Nice. This winter coming up, I will find the right opportunity to open my last bottle which is a Magnum.

Seeing this made me think that I had consumed one of the two bottles I had. And I was right. Drank it back in May of last year. No formal notes, but I did comment that the 1995 Dalla Valle Cabernet was better.

If that is true, I would love to taste the Dalla Valle. The Spottswoode was awesome.

I have had both wines many times and they are both excellent and in fact similar. Both have aged gracefully and the primary difference to me is the American oak in the Dalle Valle versus the French oak in the Spottswoode.

This is a good debate. I admire and respect a number of posters in this thread when it comes to more recent vintages of California Cabernet.

So, who is correct?

quote:

Originally posted by wine+art:
This is a good debate. I admire and respect a number of posters in this thread when it comes to more recent vintages of California Cabernet.

So, who is correct?

I say everyone is correct. Wine is subjective and comparing notes is part of the fun. I thought I could settle this debate by opening both wines but....I drank the last 1995 Dalle Valle earlier this year.

I was fortunate to open them side by side. Both were excellent, but DnVsMom and I both gave the nod to the Dalle Valle. If we repeated the excercise this weekend (and we could ), the outcome might change.

I opened a bottle of this wine earlier this week and I would suggest drinking soon.

It started beautifully, but began to diminish after 15-20 minutes in the glass.