Vertical Tasting of Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon

It may be sexist to describe Spottswoode as a feminine style of Napa Cabernet, but from the start, there has been no arguing with the fragrant elegance of this midweight wine. And in fact the modern history of the estate has been dominated by women, beginning with owner Mary Novak and her daughters Beth and Lindy but also including a string of talented winemakers: Pam Starr, Rosemary Cakebread and Jennifer Williams.

In March, Spottswoode hosted a vertical tasting of 15 vintages of their flagship wine (plus the 2014 from barrel), going back to their maiden offering in 1982. I subsequently fleshed out this tasting by lining up another dozen Spottswoode vintages chez moi, some of them provided by Spottswoode and the rest pulled from my own cellar, where they had been resting peacefully at a steady 55 degrees since their release. As with a number of the other vertical tastings I have conducted in recent years, the Spottswoode vintages since the 1990s were clearly better than those from earlier years. And more recent vintages were stronger still: more thoroughly and evenly ripe, more concentrated, more refined, with better management of tannins. With all due respect to old bottles, my experiences suggest that only the most exceptional California red wines have anything to gain once they have reached the quarter-century mark. (And I hope to sample more of those wines in my ongoing series of vertical tastings!)

Spottswoode vineyard

The Early History of the Spottswoode Estate

The Spottswoode property dates back to 1882, when George Schonewald, a German immigrant, planted 17 acres of wine grapes on a 31-acre parcel in the community of St. Helena, with the intention of using the estate as a summer home. He named it Esmeralda. Two years later, Schonewald sold several acres of adjacent land to Frank Kraft, who built a Victorian farmhouse for his family as well as a stone wine cellar that the Novaks eventually renovated in the 1990s.

After the death of his wife in 1906, Schonewald sold his Esmeralda estate to Joseph Bliss, who renamed the estate Lyndenhurst (the name the Novaks use today for their second wine, made from the estate’s youngest vines). Bliss sold the estate to Dr. George Allen two years later and Allen in turn sold it again in 1910 to Mrs. Albert Spotts. Mrs. Spotts renamed the property Spottswoode in memory of her late husband. With the threat of Prohibition looming, the Spotts family planted their vineyard to a field blend of Green Hungarian, French Colombard and Petit Sirah; but the estate fell into disrepair during Prohibition, and the Spotts family survived chiefly by selling grapes to the Christian Brothers Winery for their sacramental wine.

In 1930, Mrs. Spotts, who had no descendants, gave the Spottswoode Estate to her niece, Florence Holmes, and Florence’s daughter Constance Price, who used Spottswoode as their second home (they lived in Berkeley). Following the repeal of Prohibition at the end of 1933, Spottswoode began to sell fruit to the St. Helena Wine Cooperative, at that time controlled by Gallo.

The Modern Era at Spottswoode

In 1972, Dr. Jack and Mary Novak purchased the 31-acre Spottswoode Estate and moved their family of five children to St. Helena. The Novaks immediately purchased an additional 15 acres of bordering farm land, increasing the estate’s total acreage to its current 46 acres. The following year, they decided to replant their pre-Prohibition vineyards, located on well-drained alluvial soils, to Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc using AXR rootstock. After Jack Novak died suddenly in 1977, Mary Novak decided to pursue the family’s winemaking venture, taking over management of the estate, finishing her first harvest, and selling the fruit to various Napa Valley families, including the Shafers and the Duckhorns.