spottswoode estate cabernet
2006 — Our 25th Anniversary Vintage!
The 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon was our 25th Anniversary Cabernet—wow! That year was also notable as being Jennifer Williams’ first as our winemaker.
Jennifer joined Spottswoode as our winemaking intern during harvest of 2002. During her internship we recognized her talent, passion and potential, and asked her to join us full time. She became our Assistant Winemaker in 2003, working closely with winemaker Rosemary Cakebread in all aspects of our wine production. Jennifer then began spending more time in our estate vineyard, and added the title of Vineyard Manager in 2004. It was our intent that Jennifer would eventually succeed Rosemary as Spottswoode’s full-time winemaker, and this planned transition became official in 2006. Jennifer remained with us through the 2010 vintage, and has been succeeded as Winemaker and Vineyard Manager by Aron Weinkauf, who has worked alongside Jennifer since 2006. Rosemary, whose talent, historical perspective and blending insights are invaluable to us, continues to work with us as our Winemaking Consultant.
Upon release, Jennifer offered these thoughts on our 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon:
My favorite wines are ones that are very alive—those with a spark of energy to them, that evolve and develop with time. Complexity is usually a shared theme of “alive” wines—allowing the many unique characters to unfurl, layer by layer, revealing components of its multi—faceted soul. Our 2006 Spottswoode Cab is one such wine. It’s concentrated and contemplative and full of fruit now, though it’s easy to see that this wine has so much more to reveal.
With a wild flood on New Year’s Day of this vintage and snow through the early spring, our valley was subject to a late budbreak and harvest, making the growing conditions for this wine unique indeed. On the top of our game in the vineyard, and with the debut of our new sorting table in 2006, these grapes were treated like royalty on their way to fermentation. With a sturdy structure being characteristic of this vintage, we opted for an additional three months of barrel ageing to encourage the flexible, supple nature of this resulting wine.
Making our 25th Anniversary Cabernet Sauvignon from our Estate Vineyard was both a humbling and exhilarating milestone. We had great cause for celebration, based upon both the quality of the 2006 Cabernet and the fact that we had been making wine for a quarter of a century. We continue to celebrate further anniversaries with each passing vintage, as we honor our vineyard by creating consistently exceptional Cabernet Sauvignon.
