Introducing Elizabeth Spencer Wines
In an era of corporate grape contracts, their long-term agreements consist simply of mutual high regard and a handshake. “Our growers provide us with continuity of high quality fruit, and we pay them fairly and reliably, in vintages of scarcity and excess.” These are wines that capture the soul of California. Believing that the best wine is made from superior grapes, Elizabeth Spencer makes Cabernet Sauvignon from select vineyards in the Napa Valley. The Pinot Noir and Chardonnay come from the Sonoma Coast appellation. Vinifying wine in small individual lots, in 2005, they produced very small quantities of Mendocino Sauvignon Blanc from CCOF Organically Certified vineyards. Made to be accessible in youth, their wines display ample fruit and are well-balanced from the first impression through to the finish.
Producer Tech Sheets
Elizabeth Spencer 2016 Special Cuve Cabernet Sauvignon
You now have FREE access to nearly 300,000 wine, beer and spirit reviews. Cheers!
Soft, round and jammy in raspberry, this wine also offers sage and compostan underlying earthiness that complements its more decadent tones marked additionally in chocolate mocha. Virginie Boone
- rating
- Alcohol
- Not rated yet
All tastings reported in the Buying Guide are performed blind. Typically, products are tasted in peer-group flights of from 5-8 samples. Reviewers may know general information about a flight to provide contextvintage, variety or appellationbut never the producer or retail price of any given selection. When possible, products considered flawed or uncustomary are retasted.
Ratings reflect what our editors felt about a particular product. Beyond the rating, we encourage you to read the accompanying tasting note to learn about a products special characteristics.
ClassicThe pinnacle of quality
Very GoodOften good value well recommended
GoodSuitable for everyday consumption often good value
Ratings reflect what our editors felt about a particular product. Beyond the rating, we encourage you to read the accompanying tasting note to learn about a products special characteristics.
Elizabeth Spencer Wines: Style And Elegance
Spencer Graham was in town recently and we had the good fortune of tasting through the new releases of Elizabeth Spencer Wines. We are big fans of this enterprise which is owned and operated by partners Elizabeth Pressler and Spencer Graham, who are partners in life as well as in wine. Their tasting room in Rutherford is pictured on the right.
Spencer Graham and Elizabeth Pressler have been making wine together since 1998, although each has been involved with wine for more than three decades. Elizabeth grew up near Philadelphia and, beginning with her college years, became passionately involved with food and wine. Among the luminaries she has worked with are Madeline Kammen, Alice Waters and Elizabeth David. She later became involved in wine industry marketing for some of Californias finest producers such as Araujo, Etude, Kamen and many more.
Spencer spent his early years in Brazil where his parents worked in the foreign service. He later attended the University of Virginia and worked in restaurants in Charlottesville and got into wine in a serious way. He later got into the wholesale and import wine business. This is where he met Elizabeth and began representing some of her top California winery clients in the Mid-Atlantic. He and Elizabeth married in 1997 and settled in St. Helena where they began making wine, releasing the first vintage of Elizabeth Spencer in 1998.
Elizabeth Spencer 2008 Chenin Blanc Special Cuvée Mendocino 89
You May Like: How Many Carbs In Wine
Unquenchable: A Tipsy Search
Best Books of the Year
Natalie MacLean is a new force in the wine writing world & dash a feisty North American answer to Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson. She can write beautifully about wine.
The Financial Times of London
There are very few people in the wine world who “get it” and Natalie is one of those who brings more fun to a buttoned-up and stodgy game.
Gary Vaynerchuck, Wine Library TV
