2017 Rudd Estate Leslie's Blend

Rudd Estate is a 46-acre estate in Oakville, Napa Valley. It was the Girard Winery until 1996, when Leslie Rudd, a liquor distributor from Wichita, Kansas, bought the property in order to produce his own premium wines. Leslie Rudd also is chairman of the board of Dean & DeLuca, the upscale gourmet grocery founded in New York City. He bought Dean & DeLuca a few years ago and also is an investor in several national restaurant chains. Reviewers have awarded Rudd’s wines with high praise and high scores, and Robert M. Parker Jr. notes that Rudd “produces an outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon…” as well as other wines, including Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.

Mount Veeder AVA was established in 1993, though its origins as a wine producing district date to the 19th century. A German Presbyterian pastor named Peter Veeder was one of the first landowners in the area, and by 1864 one of his neighbors, a German sea captain named Stelham Wing, was producing wine commercially. The area continued to attract German agricultural entrepreneurs, some of whom established the estate that would later become the Christian Brothers Mont La Salle winery. Today the AVA includes about 1,000 acres of vineyards, most of them at relatively high altitudes. The Mayacamas vineyard, for instance, is at 2,400 feet. Cabernet Sauvignon is the most frequently planted grape, followed by Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.