Wines

The overarching philosophy of our winemaking is to allow our unique vineyard sites to express their full potential by combining meticulous, balanced farming and classical winemaking techniques enhanced by innovative practices. Respect and love for our land drives every decision, even if it means sacrificing short-term financial gains. Everyone who works at Rudd Estate – outside in the fields, inside in the winery and office or underground in the cellars – shares a passion for the land and believes in the Rudd family’s quest for excellence.

As Leslie succinctly puts it, “It all starts in the vineyards”, and thus our emphasis is on the vineyards. A balance needs to be struck between stressing the vines and growing the most robust vines possible, in order to create the most complex and nuanced flavored fruit. We strive to achieve this ideal balance with our farming practices and have been rewarded with vines that are able to better withstand nature’s stressors such as heat spikes and drought. Additionally we can harvest later, permitting the fruit more hang time allowing them to fully develop their flavor.

The care we give our vines extends to the picked fruit. All fruit is handled very delicately and placed in small 40 pound boxes to avoid damage. It is then stored in refrigerated containers to await processing. The cool temperatures allow improved extraction of color and desirable flavor attributes from the fruit. Similarly, our crushing process is painstakingly slow and precise. The fruit goes through a multi-phase sorting procedure culminating in a hand sort by up to 10 people. The free-run from the fermentation tanks is stored in new French oak barrels for up to 28 months before bottling. During the aging time we carefully analyze each lot during its elevage or maturing. We blend only the lots our winemaker feels will make the very best wine and declassify lots that fail to meet these exceedingly high standards. Each year up to half of the total production is declassified. When we finally bottle the wine, we are confident it is the best possible wine that we are capable of producing.