2001 Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley

Since my last visit to this estate (the "Estate" has apparently been dropped from its official name), David Ramey has gone off to pursue his own venture and the talented Charles Thomas, who made several vintages of the consistently excellent Cardinale, took over in April of 2002 and was responsible for blending the 2001s. Rudd's 2000 Estate Red Wine, to be released in September, is the first red from this large property just inside the Silverado Trail in Oakville. There is also a Jericho Canyon bottling from 2000; but beginning with 2001 ex-winemaker Ramey will continue to work with this fruit as Rudd completes its evolution to estate fruit. Thomas believes that each vintage here has been better than the previous one, with 2002 having yielded especially perfumed wines. The winemaking objective at Rudd, according to Thomas, is power with finesse. Production, now at 10,000 cases, will eventually rise to about 15,000.