2019 Mollydooker “The Boxer” Shiraz

Mollydooker is Australian slang for a left-handed boxer. Mollydooker, the brand, was founded by Sarah and Sparky Marquis, two left-handed winemakers, in 2006. When Robert Parker reviewed their first vintage, he rated “The Boxer” the “Best Value Red in the World.” In 2007 they purchased their estate vineyard in McLaren Vale and instituted their trademarked Vineyard Watering Program to ensure the best quality in the fruit used in their wines. They also guarantee the quality of their wine by rating it on its “Marquis Fruit Weight,” a measure of how far back on your tongue the velvety sensation of fruit goes. They will not produce wines from parcels of the vineyard that do not meet the required Fruit Weight for the wine.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Mollydooker wines also goes to support children in Cambodia, abused women and girls in the US, and the homeless in the inner city of Adelaide.

Since 2017, Sarah has been the sole owner and chief winemaker for Mollydooker. She has continued in the traditions she and Sparky established for the brand and her wines have continued to win awards and place in Wine Spectator’s top 100 wines.

The grapes for “The Boxer” come from the vineyards in McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek. The wine is barrel fermented and aged in American oak. The Marquis Fruit Weight for the 2019 vintage is 68%.

“The Boxer” is described by the winemaker thus: “…alluring and unashamedly bold Shiraz has hints of spiced plums, blackberry jam, and cherry all at the fore and finishes with coffee cream, licorice, and vanilla. Full bodied with vibrant berry fruit characteristics, yet elegant with restrained tannins, resulting in a soft mouthfeel. Consistently impressive and seriously good, this wine is not short of character.”

The wine was awarded 92 points by the Wine Spectator and 90 points by the Wine Advocate.
One other quirk of Mollydooker wines is that they recommend their red wines be given a “shake” before they are consumed. They recommend this because they use nitrogen in their winemaking to protect the wine and minimize the use of sulphites. The nitrogen also flattens the flavor of the wine. They recommend that you open the bottle, pour a little wine out, re-cap the bottle and shake it vigorously upside down to release the nitrogen and restore the wine’s flavor profile. Try it and let us know how the wine tastes before and after “the shake.”