welcome to Rutherford Hill
Hegui was familiar with Rutherford Hill from a wine tasting excursion there several years ago with some friends with whom we’ve now lost touch. I was visiting people in New York, so missed out on this delightful wine experience. On our recent trip to Napa, we had just finished a lovely picnic lunch at Pride Mountain Vineyards with our friends, C and E. We wanted a go at one more place, so there we are.
This winery is hidden off the main part of Silverado Trail on, appropriately enough, Rutherford Hill Road. Surrounded by flower gardens, rolling hills and stunning views of the Napa Valley floor, this is the last stop after the world-renowned Auberge du Soleil, the very luxurious Napa Valley hotel and resort.
Rutherford Hill tasting room entrance
echinacea flowering at Rutherford Hill
a beautiful view of Napa Valley from Rutherford Hill
Unlike at Pride and Stag’s Leap, where the vineyards are more-or-less contiguous, Rutherford Hill has vineyard parcels scattered throughout Napa County. As a result, they can produce interesting blends from the sometimes very different parcels. Our tasting-room hostess, Betty, told us that because of the wide ranging parcels, wine blends with the same grape varieties can all taste quite differently. That makes sense.
On the day we were there (a Saturday) the tasting room was crowded. Apparently, the winery offers tours of the facility. We didn’t plan ahead for this so weren’t able to do that. They produce a large variety of wines at various price points that range from the value $18 to $22 level all the way to their super trophy Bordeaux blend, EPISODE, at $150 a bottle. They do offer case discounts for at least some of the wines and should you be a club member, tasting fees and further discounts are available.
contemplating the wine list at Rutherford Hill
I shared the $30 “Reserve Tasting” with Hegui. Callie had the standard $15 tasting. Hegui was so enchanted by these wines that he encouraged me to join the club (which I did). Now I’m in four clubs and on the buying list for Williams-Selyem. I’m gonna have to re-visit these and perhaps take some of my own advice about wine clubs sometime soon! At any rate, we had a lot of fun here. The wines that we tasted for the most part were full of pleasure, and we look forward to a return visit for the tour and more tasting. Here are our notes:
2005 Syrah: This had a transparent red color with medium body. The attack and middle were fine but it finished with a sour note that we didn’t really enjoy. There was cherry fruit. It was just okay.
2007 Malbec: We didn’t like this one much, finding it a bit unbalanced.
2006 Angels’ Peak: This is a blend of 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. This dark red beauty was medium to full bodied with raspberry, cherry and minerally, earthy notes with a delightful flinty almost bitter finish. Hegui thought it offered a characteristic Rutherford nose. We really liked this wine.
2006 Devils’ Peak: This wine was 66% Cabernet Franc, 23% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest, Malbec. This wine was also a delightful dark red. We noted butterscotch and tobacco notes on the nose. Though not quite as round as Angels’ Peak, nevertheless, it was smooth with an impressively long finish that opened up in your mouth like a flower in bloom seen in one of those high-speed scientific films. Wonderful! There were distinct vanilla notes at the end. What a wine!
Rutherford Hill trophy wine EPISODE
2007 Winemaker’s Blend: This is 44% Merlot, 41% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, and the rest, Petit Verdot. This was a transparent dark red color. On the nose, we detected chocolate, thyme and rosemary. It had mellow, almost over-ripe flavors of cherry and red fruits with mineral and vanilla. This was very balanced and quite good.
2006 Luke Donald Claret: There’s a story about the name for this wine that escapes me now. It’s a blend of 44% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc and the rest, Petit Verdot (the flier says 11% PV but I think that they must mean 1% and it’s a typo.) This wine was a transparent red with crème brulée and some smoky sweetness on the nose. Hegui said while tasting this gem, “It feels like you can drink this like you’re drinking water,” it’s that refreshing and good. It seemed very Bordeaux-ish, if that’s a word: full bodied, round, lush and supple with a good finish. Though packed with fruit, it had an almost metallic attack and pepper on the end.
2005 Reserve Merlot: This wine is 91% Merlot and the rest, Cabernet Sauvignon. This was a rusty red color with a complex nose of mulberry, cranberry, cherry, garrigue and earth. It was full bodied with lots of red fruit and a wonderful finish. I liked this a lot.
2006 EPISODE: This is Rutherford Hill’s flagship wine, a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot and the rest, Petit Verdot. This is not a “Meritage” as the winery does not participate in the Meritage Association. But that’s the idea behind this exclusive bottling. Betty used one of those little aerator devices to serve this wine, saying that it needs to breath to be properly appreciated at this young age. The wine was a dark purple with a nose of scorched earth. This had red and blue fruit, mineral and earth. Wow! It was very smooth with a long, lingering finish. Delish!
We loved Rutherford Hill. Let us know what you think.
Rutherford Hill steel fermentation vats as seen from the tasting room