Established in 1882, Spottswoode Estate is distinguished by the pre-Prohibition Victorian home depicted on our wine label. Spottswoode was christened by Mrs. Albert Spotts in 1910 and later acquired by Mary and Jack Novak in 1972. Mary released Spottswoode’s first Cabernet Sauvignon in 1982, exactly one hundred years after the estate’s founding.
Today, Mary’s daughter Beth Weber Novak manages the winery, and daughter Lindy Novak serves as the winery’s Marketing Ambassador. Every year Spottswoode releases an Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and an Estate Sauvignon Blanc. In addition, Spottswoode produces a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon called Lyndenhurst, a dual-appellation Spottswoode Sauvignon Blanc, and a limited-production Field Book Estate Red Wine. Committed to producing wines with integrity that faithfully reflect their grape origins, Spottswoode wines are especially known for their refined elegance, balance, and classic structure.
Opulent floral top notes carry you into an opaque purple core, imparting aromas of black currants, dark red cherry coulis, cigar box, and allspice berries. Powerful yet soft tannins are balanced with a delightful freshness of acidity. The palate is silky with nuanced flavors of cassis, ripe blackberry, and Morello cherry. The long finish invites you to discover the wine’s evolving layers.
Review:
This is, as usual, a beauty, perhaps more so thanks to a great vintage. It is classically Napa Valley, and classically “house styled” by Aron Weinkauf, with black and blue fruit, supple, approachable tannin structure and great depth of aroma and flavor. That said, keep in mind that this isn’t the winery flagship offering. Even in this price range Lyndenhurst is always a solid value, and is so again – maybe even a little more than usual. Decant well if you crack into this in the near term, or age it for the long term. Contains 10.6% Merlot, 3.8% Petit Verdot, 3.5% Cabernet Franc and 2.9% Malbec. (Rich Cook)
- Wine Review Online 95 Points
A juicy red with black currants and balsamic. Bark and mushroom. Iodine, too. Medium body, creamy texture that tightens at the end. An energy and firmness in the finish.
-James Suckling 94 Points
Young and present, this is an energetic and bold expression of violets, lavender, and cassis mixed with dark chocolate, cherry, plum, and graphite. A wine happy to be tucked away in the cellar, and it’s also expressing itself beautifully now.
Review:
Lovely fragrant blackberry and black cherry fruit, cassis, and rich tobacco spices with lovely fresh earth notes and a sweet kiss of new wood cedar. Incredibly concentrated dark berry fruit with fabulously angular tannins with smooth long beams with crisp edges. Purple florals, dried sagebrush, and chocolate shavings with lids of graphite and deep iron-like mineral character. And a finish of dark saturated fruit that goes and goes for days. There are purple floras too. Polished and bright, with vivacious acidity and freshness evident from the sip to the finish. Wow, this wine.
-Decanter 98-100 Points
Benjamin Romeo Predicador Tinto is made from 96 percent Tempranillo, 2 percent Garnacha, 1 percent Graciano and 1 percent Mazuelo.
Predicador, or “Preacher,” named after Clint Eastwood’s everyman character in the 1985 film Pale Rider, is composed of 96 percent Tempranillo, 2 percent Garnacha, 1 percent Graciano and 1 percent Mazuelo. The grapes are sourced from 15 different plots within San Vicente and Briones in Rioja Alta which on average yield less than 2 kg per vine. The wine is fermented in oak and stainless steel with a two-day cold maceration and aged for sixteen months in new French oak. The wine was filtered but not fined. This vintage some La Cueva del Contador, Contador and La Vina de Andres were added for concentration and balance.
The aromatics open up with crushed red cherries, balsamic notes and the sweet baking spices of cinnamon and clove. The fruity and spicy characteristics found in the nose follow through on the palate, along with dried cranberry, black cherry and elegant fine-grained tannin supporting the tart red fruit and adding to its length and depth.
Review:
The red 2021 Predicador has notes of ripe black fruit and dark spices and is a little earthy, powerful, concentrated and generously oaked but balanced and integrated. A modern, powerful red Rioja produced with Tempranillo and complemented with 3% each Graciano and Mazuelo and 2% Garnacha, it has a juicy palate with plenty of power and abundant, fine-grained tannins. It's ripe without excess at 14.7% alcohol. 90,000 bottles produced. It was bottled after spending 19 months in used French oak barrels.
-Robert Parker 93 Points
Colour ,cherry, purple rim. Aroma ,fruit expression, floral, spicy, red berry notes, black fruit, complex. Flavour ,flavourful, fruity, good acidity, long.
-Guia Penin 93 Points
Mollydooker Blue Eyed Boy is made from 100 percent Shiraz.
Dense in color with vibrant dark purple hues. A complex, alluring and lifted nose of blueberry, dark cherry, caramel and hints of vanilla bean leap from the glass. Powerful yet delicate, the wine voices luscious layers of fresh berries, black pepper, coffee and a finishing note of chocolate cream. Full bodied, well defined tannins provide the backbone, as the wine fills the mouth and continues to evolve with every glass poured.
Review:
WHO IS THE BLUE EYED BOY?
The Blue Eyed Boy is Sarah’s son, Luke. Stomping grapes as a kid and now heading up the Mollydooker Sales Team.
TASTING NOTES:
The 2022 Blue Eyed Boy is impressively deep in colour, displaying vibrant dark purple hues. Its aromatic profile is both intricate and inviting, with scents of blueberry, fresh plum, and subtle hints of mocha cream bursting from the glass. This wine is a balance of strength and finesse, delivering layers of lush, fresh berries and a touch of aniseed spice, culminating in a final note of creamy chocolate. With generous and dynamic layers, the wine allows the gentle tannins to craft a smooth and enduring finish, ensuring a truly memorable experience.
TECHNICAL NOTES:
The grapes were grown on the Coppermine Road, Gateway, Long Gully Road and Mollydooker Home vineyards in McLaren Vale, and Joppich vineyard in Langhorne Creek. Barrel fermented and matured in 100% American oak, using 54% new and 46% one year old barrels. The required Marquis Fruit Weight™ for the Family Series is 75% – 85%. The Actual Fruit Weight for 2022 Blue Eyed Boy is 79%.
Alcohol: 16.5%