Saturday night we pulled out some 1980s wines which included the 1989 spottswoode. It had a nutty character that I couldn’t enjoy and we moved on to other wines. Reading CellarTracker this morning I realized blakes tasting notes to be similar to mine describing a Madeira quality that he attributed to being cooked. I don’t feel this wine was cooked knowing the provenience.
Any thoughts? And if Blake is reading I am interested to hear of his expanded experience with this wine
My wife and I follow this wine and have had a couple of occasions drinking in the 20-25 year range where this wine under-performed vs its peers.
It’s frequent enough that I worry when opening a bottle from that era.
Your description seems accurate, to me.
My disclaimer is that we also open bottles of the same age that are perfectly lovely. So, put us down as “vast bottle to bottle issues,” and we have purchased directly from the winery and invest in proper storage, so your point on provenance is apt, as well! ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Keep in mind that 1989 was “the vintage from hell” in the north coast - it started raining early and never stopped. The vineyards were full of rot and grocery stores ran out of their 10 pound bags of sugar. While there were a few decent wines made, none of them had any aging potential.
I had this wine about 10 years ago and thought it was over the hill at that point.
I’ll echo Tom, I had this in the mid-2000’s and it’s just not a very good vintage from a very good producer. It was tired then.
I’ve tried 1989, 1990 and 1991 Spottswoode all over the last couple years and all were stewed and tired. Everything you are noting is consistent with my experiences.
Had the 93 a couple of weeks ago and it was fine. An unusual flavor profile for a CA cab in my limited experience, but enjoyable nonetheless
I guess it’s a good thing, then, that I traded three Spottswoodes from the 80s (can’t remember the vintage) for two '89 Chave Hermitages at Premier Cru circa 1993. 
I enjoyed a 1991 Spottswood recently and it was fresh and beautiful.
1991 is a way different vintage than 1989…along with 92, 94-97.
Just tried last month a 2005, which I believe was Rosemary Cakebread’s last year as winemaker. Brought it with me to Sole’ Italian restaurant in Myrtle beach. Pop n pour showed beautifully but I suspect it has plenty of years left. As I have 5 bottles left will revisit every 3 years
We purchased two dozen magnums from K&L that they couldn’t move, almost all were 1989. We tried the first 89 Spottswoode in 2002 or 2003 at a dinner in Sausalito. It was a little thin for a Spottswoode but enjoyable. We had an 89 Silver Oak Napa Valley magnum with Todd Anderson around 2014 and it drank like a youngster. Still have an 89 Spottswoode mag in the back room. May be time to revisit it.