2006 Oakville Estate Proprietary Red Wine Napa Valley

Direction of this estate has now stabilized, with Pat Sullivan, who previously worked with Paul Hobbs, taking over as winemaker after Michel Rolland's assistant Thierry Haberer vinified the 2007s. The estate is now working with riper, less-stressed fruit, thanks to the advice of Rolland and the vineyard work of David Abreu, who has increased the use of irrigation and done a better job of aerating the soil. According to Sullivan, for example, the 2007 sauvignon blanc was picked at a full two degrees Brix higher than previously. The fruit will now enjoy more hang time: even in the generally early harvest of 2007, this previously early-ripening property was harvested mostly in the middle two weeks of October.

Expect better things ahead here: Michel Rolland was hired as consultant in 2006; Bill Vyenielo (long-time general manager for Peter Michael) was brought in to manage operations; and new winemaker Pat Sullivan took over with the 2007 vintage. According to Vyenielo, in past vintages the vines were intentionally stressed, which exacerbated the tendency of the site to produce massive tannins that cut off the mid-palate fruit of the wines. The goal now is to reinvigorate the soil in order to get the vines healthy enough to be able to hang their fruit longer (in fact, Rudd was able to pick later than its neighbors in 2007, in the third week of October). Steps include irrigating the vineyards prior to forecasted heat spikes, planting cover crop, doing less leaf pulling, and using much smaller, lighter tractors to avoid compacting the soil.