Rutherford AVA is the widest point of the Napa Valley, dead center in the middle of the narrative that has shaped California wine throughout history. Located centrally and surrounded by mountains, the region contains many microclimates: little worlds unto themselves that create distinctive wines. West of Highway 29, our vineyard is situated on Zinfandel Lane, where northwest and southeast-facing vines have front-row seats to the blazing afternoon sun each day. This heat is a great benefit; the fruit ripens relatively early, and yields remain low.
If Rutherford AVA wines were to pair with any author, it could only be the great Ernest Hemingway. Our celebrated American-born writer developed an old-world sensibility and spent his career achieving depth by writing simply. His stories have truly stood the test of time, and this is what reminds us most of our Rutherford wines.
Rutherford AVA Wines Oeuvre
The wines of Rutherford enjoy a warm, sunny climate, which evenly ripens the grapes and allows our wines to receive raving reviews year after year. This region is best known for growing the highly acclaimed Cabernet Sauvignon, and so we’re pairing our recent vintages with our favorite Hemingway novels.
2016
A near-perfect vintage can only be paired with Hemingway’s masterpiece: The Sun Also Rises. Considered one of his greatest works, it was with his first major novel that Hemingway showed the world the power of his storytelling. The 2016, too, was a masterpiece of a vintage with perfect weather, the right amount of rain, and beautifully sunny days leading right up to harvest.
2017
Unlike the previous year, there were some challenges to the 2017 vintage. At first, it was cool and wet, and then the regions experienced a series of heatwaves. It had critics wondering: will these wines hold up? Will their structure be compromised? The mix of celebration and skepticism of this vintage pairs with Hemingways To Have and To Have Not, which has been a point of passionate discussion for the writers’ closest readers. While some find its structure to be a departure from his normal style, others find that the departure reflects the complexity of the story.
2018
When Hemingway wrote The Old Man and The Sea, the world of literature changed forever. The story was Hemingway’s return to his tried-and-true stroke of genius. The 2018 vintage too, was a reminder that Rutherford, like Hemingway, has the unique ability to turn out timeless classics again and again.
What makes a classic
Surrounded by mountains on either side, the wine grapes of Rutherford are grown on the valley floor or the hillsides. They get plenty of sun, which allows them to make wines of structure and greatness.
The diversity of soil, too, gives these wines impact: volcanic deposits, sandstone, gravel, loam, and marine sediments from geological events 200 million years ago all impart tone and flavor to the wines. The region sits on alluvial fans, gravelly soils that formed when mountainsides collapsed onto the valley floor, eventually adding complexity and longevity to our wines.
This mix of unique soil types imparts a signature dusty note to the wines, earning the wines the unique descriptor: Rutherford Dust.
Terroir in Ernest
When it comes to Rutherford AVA wines, what makes a classic is its ability to reflect terroir. The climate, the proximity to mountains and benchlands, and the story of how the many soil types came to be are all characters in the wine’s story. They can be tasted as vividly as Hemingway’s stories can be felt.