Fierce, Fearless, and Full of Grace: Celebrating Wine’s Maternal Matriarchs this Mother’s Day
This Mother’s Day, we raise a glass to the women who have nurtured more than just vines — they’ve tended to legacies, protected heritage, and led with vision and grace. Among the many remarkable women in wine, two stand as maternal forces of strength, tradition, and transformation: María José López de Heredia of Rioja’s famed López de Heredia winery, and Mary Novak of Spottswoode Estate in Napa Valley.
María José López de Heredia: Guardian of Time-Honored Tradition
To step into López de Heredia’s cellars in Haro, Spain is to enter a sacred space where time is measured not in years but in generations. María José López de Heredia, fourth-generation winemaker and current steward of her family’s iconic winery, has spent her life fiercely defending tradition in an industry constantly tugged toward innovation.
While others chased trends and quick market wins, María José remained a staunch advocate for her family's classical winemaking philosophy. She extended aging in barrel and bottle, no shortcuts, and absolute respect for nature. She is as much a storyteller as she is a winemaker, echoing the wisdom and resilience passed down from her ancestors, including her formidable great-grandmother, María López de Heredia, who co-founded the winery in 1877.
María José has become a symbol of quiet rebellion — choosing authenticity over fashion, patience over profit, and integrity over influence. In doing so, she preserves not only the soul of her family’s wines but a piece of Rioja’s cultural heritage.
Mary Novak (Mrs. Albert Spotts): A Napa Valley Pioneer with Grace and Grit
Across the Atlantic, another woman was quietly changing the course of California winemaking. In 1972, Mary Novak took over the historic Spottswoode Estate after the sudden passing of her husband, Albert. At a time when few women were visible in the wine industry — let alone leading it — she stepped into a role that required immense courage, resilience, and humility.
With five children to raise and a vineyard to restore, Mary cultivated both family and farmland with the same nurturing precision. By the 1980s, she’d transformed Spottswoode into one of Napa’s most respected producers, pioneering organic viticulture and championing sustainability long before it was fashionable.
Mary led with heart and an unshakable belief in the potential of her land and team. She hired women into leadership roles, collaborated with some of the region’s most talented winemakers, and passed on her values of stewardship and excellence to her daughter Beth Novak Milliken, who now leads the estate.
Mary’s legacy is one of strength wrapped in softness. A maternal force who led not with ego, but with empathy.
This Mother’s Day: A Toast to the Women Who Hold It All Together
María José and Mary remind us that being a mother, whether to children, to land, or to legacy, is an act of defiant love. They’ve proven that honoring the past and shaping the future are not mutually exclusive, and that the wine world is infinitely richer for the women who hold its roots in their hands.
This Sunday, as we celebrate the women who’ve shaped our lives, let’s also celebrate those who’ve shaped the wines we love. Here’s to the fierce protectors, the quiet revolutionaries, and the matriarchs of wine. May their stories continue to inspire for generations to come!