1998 Jericho Canyon Napa Valley

I met with winemaker David Ramey on his last official day as a full-time winemaker for Rudd Estate. Beginning in early March, Ramey will consult for both Rudd and Spring Mountain Vineyards, in addition to making wines under his own label. Ramey has put the Rudd wines on the map in a remarkably short time; in 2000, he made his first red wine from the Oakville estate vineyard he had helped owner Leslie Rudd plant in the mid-1990s, and it an impressively lush, Pomerol-like number that showcases the potential of the site. The Jericho Canyon wine is from steep hillside terraces outside Calistoga.

Leslie Rudd, owner of Standard Beverage (Wichita, KS) and Dean & Deluca, bought out the Girard family in 1996 (Steve Girard remains as part-time general manager), and is in the process of replanting the Oakville estate vineyard to Bordeaux varieties. At the same time, he is in the process of constructing a major new winery and elaborate caves for aging the wines. David Ramey, previously at Dominus, was brought in a year ago to direct this major new operation and make the wine (Ramey will also continue to make his own chardonnays from the Hyde and Hudson Vineyards here). The long-term plan is to offer several wines based on site more than variety. For example, says Ramey, there may be a Rudd Estate wine, a Bordeaux blend from Jericho Canyon and a third wine from purchased fruit in Oakville, plus a lighter, relatively inexpensive claret-style wine. The '96 and '97 wines, as well as the '98 chardonnays from the Russian River Valley, Carneros and Mt. Veeder, will still carry the Girard label, while the '98 reds will be labeled as Rudd. This spare-no-expense operation will be a producer to watch.