RUDIUS
KALEY ELIZABETH
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2016 OAKVILLE
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!”
RUDIUS
KALEY ELIZABETH
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2016 OAKVILLE
Retails at: $135
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“Coming from the Tierra Roja vineyard in Oakville and also spending 27 months in oak, the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Kaley Elizabeth (there’s 4% Cabernet Franc) offers a meaty, exotic bouquet of bloody blueberry fruits, gamey meats, iodine, blood orange, and violets. With full-bodied richness and depth, it’s flawlessly balanced, has fine tannins, and a seamless, sexy texture that keeps you coming back to the glass. In short, it’s another magical wine from winemaker Jeff Ames! Drink bottles over the coming 20-25 years or more.”
97 Points
“The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Kaley Elizabeth, from Tierra Roja, Oakville, is a sumptuous, exotic wine. A dollop (7%) of Cabernet Franc adds a striking perfume that gives this wine notable aromatic depth to match its exotic, alluring personality. Chocolate, espresso, licorice, dried herbs, menthol all flesh out in this flamboyant, sumptuous Cabernet Sauvignon from Rudius. Silky tannins and plush fruit give the 2016 tons of immediacy and appeal, even at this early stage. This is such a gorgeous wine.”
96 Points
“The 2016 vintage offered perfect field conditions and incredible quality in the final yield. The ‘Kaley Elizabeth’ will draw you in with an opulent profile that is classically Oakville — rich black cherries, cassis and elderberry. Pronounced accents of warm, Middle Eastern spices and crushed slate are bound by lengthy hillside tannins that filled your palate, carrying the wine to a long, compelling finish. The Kaley Elizabeth is undoubtedly the most age- worthy wine in our portfolio. This year’s Kaley shows the best of both the eastern Oakville hillside and the beauty of the interplay between Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.”
