Rudius clinched the #2 spot on my top 5 list this year by perfectly balancing power and grace, which are qualities shared by many of the world’s best wines. The wine tells a powerful tale from a remarkable Oakville vineyard, hewn from a superb Napa Valley vintage. It was written by Jeff Ames, who mentored under Thomas Brown at Schrader, Maybach, Outpost, and TOR before becoming winemaker at TOR in 05′. Since then, he’s made wines scoring in the high-90’s look easy, and words absolutely cannot express how great this wine is at $135/btl, let alone $89.

 

Kaley Elizabeth reigns from an incredible vineyard in Eastern Oakville, known for its red soils that give wines from this area intense, prolific flavors. With neighbors like Screaming Eagle, Rudd, Dalla Valle’s Maya, and Joseph Phelps’ Bacchus Vineyards, no doubt it’s an excellent place to source fruit.

 

The 2016 vintage has a dynamic presence on the palate backed by fine tannins and mouth-quenching acidity. After around two years in barrel and two more in the bottle, this release is deep, rich, and enchanting, and as Jeb Dunnuck writes, “it’s another magical wine from winemaker Jeff Ames!”

 

Retails at: $135