2018 Rudius Savory Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain

2018 Rudius Savory Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain

with No Comment $80-$90Cabernet SauvignonHowell MountainKevin VogtNapaUSA

RUDIUS

SAVORY ESTATE
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2018 HOWELL MOUNTAIN 

2018 Rudius Savory Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain
In 1998, David Abreu and Rick Forman planted a tiny 1.3-acre plot at the top of Howell Mountain at an elevation of 1780 feet. Each vintage, the Savory Estate vineyard shows off its vast potential with powerfully concentrated fruit, rock-solid structure, and supreme ageability, that’s vividly depicted in Rudius’s 2018 vintage.
 
Jeff Ames began his winemaking career interning with Lynn Penner-Ash in Oregon and later worked as Thomas Rivers Brown’s assistant winemaker for Outpost, Schrader, and TOR before becoming the head winemaker for TOR in 2005. The Savory Estate vineyard provides Jeff with the pieces to the puzzle that make up his hedonistic signature style, with past vintages scoring well into the upper 90s. Here’s an opportunity to own this incredibly limited Howell Mountain Cabernet, priced to savor.
 
RUDIUS
SAVORY ESTATE
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2018 HOWELL MOUNTAIN 
Retails at: $135
 
 
 
“The Rudius 2018 Savory Estate Cabernet is a visually compelling wine with an inky black center core and a deep ruby hue at the edges. The nose and palate dance beautifully together as they balance a vast array of compelling characteristics, including muddled blackberries, black currants, gunflint, dried green herbs, fresh cut violets, and Italian glove leather, along with hints of vanilla, baker’s chocolate, and white pepper. The palate is exceptionally concentrated and powerful yet finds the perfect symmetry between structure, intensity, and elegance. I struggled to find the perfect analogy to describe it, but it is like a bodybuilder who is also a world-class ballet dancer. It’s not what you’d expect at first glance but is thrilling to behold. I think this stunning effort is precisely what everybody looks for in an incredible mountain Cabernet. It is still a baby, and as great as it is now, you can enjoy it any time over the next several decades. Simply gorgeous!”
98 Points
2014 Rudius Kaley Elizabeth Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon

2014 Rudius Kaley Elizabeth Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon

with No Comment $80-$90Cabernet SauvignonKevin VogtNapaOakvilleUSA

RUDIUS 2014 Rudius Kaley Elizabeth Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon

KALEY ELIZABETH 
CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
2014 OAKVILLE 

 
Rudius is a wine so profound that it gave every one of our buyers a you gotta be kidding me moment the first time we tried it.  Even after tasting over 5,000 wines this year, Rudius stands out on multiple levels.  For starters, it gave me goosebumps when I first tasted it, and it hails exclusively from a secret vineyard source in Oakville just across from Screaming Eagle.  It’s serendipitous that Rudius chose not to list the vineyard name on their label, or they would have had to charge $175 per bottle, and less of us would get to experience this brilliant wine.  The wine was expertly crafted by Jeff Ames, who mentored under Thomas River Brown at Schrader, Maybach, Outpost and TOR before becoming head winemaker at TOR in 2005.  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.
 
This secret vineyard source has beautiful red soils that give wines from this area intense, prolific flavors, and with neighbors like Screaming Eagle, Rudd, Dalla Valle’s Maya and Joseph Phelps’ Bacchus Vineyards, no doubt this is a great place to source fruit.  The wines from this vineyard have a trademark intense red-fruited perfume, dark, supple fruits, crushed rock and brilliant complexity.  If you enjoy the best wines that Napa Valley has to offer, you do not want to miss this… 
 
RUDIUS
KALEY ELIZABETH 
CABERNET SAUVIGNON 
2014 OAKVILLE
Retails at: $135/btl
 
 
From Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate: “Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Kaley Elizabeth comes from the Tierra Rojo vineyard in Oakville planted in 1988 and contains a small splash of Cabernet Franc. The nose explodes with baked cherries, blackcurrant cordial and blueberry pie notes with touches of Chinese five spice, wood smoke and beef drippings with a waft of dried herbs. Full-bodied, rich and spicy with mouth-filling savory and spice layers, it has a solid backbone of chewy tannins and a lively line, finishing long. 300 cases were made.”  96+ Points
2014 Rudius Kaley Elizabeth Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon

2014 Rudius Kaley Elizabeth Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon

with No Comment $80-$90Cabernet SauvignonKevin VogtNapaOakville

RUDIUS 2014 Rudius Kaley Elizabeth Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon

KALEY ELIZABETH
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2014 OAKVILLE

 
In winemaking, when the stars align perfectly and combine fruit from one of Oakville’s best vineyards with one of Napa’s most talented winemakers, the end result is a wine that competes with the best in the world.  The 2014 Rudius Kaley Elizabeth gave me goosebumps when I first tasted it, and it hails exclusively from a secret vineyard source in Oakville just across from Screaming Eagle… If Rudius chose to list the vineyard on their label they would have to charge around $175 per bottle.  The wine was brilliantly crafted by Jeff Ames, who mentored under Thomas River Brown at Schrader, Maybach, Outpost and TOR before becoming head winemaker at TOR in 2005.  Since then, he’s made wines scoring in the high-90’s look easy, and with his own label Rudius, he’s applied that same skill-set to creating value wines with unrestrained character and profound hedonism. Words absolutely cannot express how great this wine is at $135/btl (join our free Insiders Club for special offers).
 
This secret vineyard source has beautiful red soils that give wines from this area intense, prolific flavors, and with neighbors like Screaming Eagle, Rudd, Dalla Valle’s Maya and Joseph Phelp’s Bacchus Vineyards, no doubt this is a great place to source fruit.  The wines from this vineyard have a trademark intense red-fruited perfume, dark, supple fruits, crushed rock and brilliant complexity.  If you enjoy the best wines that Napa Valley has to offer, you do not want to miss this…
 
RUDIUS
KALEY ELIZABETH
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
2014 OAKVILLE
Retails at:  $135/btl
 
 
From Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate: “Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Kaley Elizabeth comes from the Tierra Rojo vineyard in Oakville planted in 1988 and contains a small splash of Cabernet Franc. The nose explodes with baked cherries, blackcurrant cordial and blueberry pie notes with touches of Chinese five spice, wood smoke and beef drippings with a waft of dried herbs. Full-bodied, rich and spicy with mouth-filling savory and spice layers, it has a solid backbone of chewy tannins and a lively line, finishing long. 300 cases were made.”  96+ Points
2012 Rudius Fion Bainise Proprietary Red

2012 Rudius Fion Bainise Proprietary Red

with No Comment $30 and underKevin VogtNorth CoastProprietary RedUSA

RUDIUS

2012 Rudius Fion Bainise Proprietary Red

2012 FION BAINISE
PROPRIETARY RED

 
What do you get when you combine one of Napa’s most talented winemakers, whose day job is crafting the high-scoring TOR wines, with ancient Mourvedre from Bedrock, Syrah from Hudson and nearly century old Grenache vines from Sceales Vineyard?  The net result is a wine so outrageously good, that at thirty bucks it’s not even fair…  Of course, I wouldn’t expect anything less from Jeff Ames, who mentored under Thomas River Brown at Schrader, Maybach, Outpost and TOR before becoming head winemaker at TOR in 2005.  At TOR he’s made crafting high-90’s rated wines look easy, and with his own label Rudius, he’s applied that same skill-set to creating value wines with unrestrained character and profound hedonism.  Words can’t express how brilliant this wine is showing right now, but maybe actions can?  We bought every single bottle available just after we tasted it.
 
How do you take a wine like this and make it even better?  You allow it to blossom for 5 years in the bottle… The Fion Bainise blend is build around a core of 57% ancient vine Grenache and enhanced with 130 year old Mourvedre vines from Morgan Twain Peterson’s Iconic Bedrock Vineyard. It’s then amplified with 7% Syrah from Hudson Vineyard.  A wine this great, likely won’t last the day…
 
RUDIUS
2012 FION BAINISE
PROPRIETARY RED
Retails at:  $38.00/btl
 
Your Price: $29.99/btl
YOU SAVE 21%
 
Winery Notes: “Jeff always allows this wine to take on a life of its own, letting the brilliance of the vintage guide his blend, and in 2012 the Grenache is the shining star. Head-trained, 84 year- old Grenache gives the wine a deep ruby color and commands your attention from the first whiff with spicy aromas, sweetened by lush raspberry and subtle lavender undertones. On the palate, the Grenache dominates the entry with bright acidity and tannins that demand a little time in the cellar (or at least 30 minutes to breath once you pop the cork). The minerality of the 126 year-old Mourvédre wows you in the end, filling out the finish with flavors of silky ripe elderberry. And as the 2012 vintage would dictate, this is a bigger wine than previous incarnations, but fans of this bottling will recognize the bright acidity and appreciate its incredible ability to go with almost any food.“
 
Customers that enjoy Rudius Fion Bainise may also enjoy these two stunning blends…
2016 Clos Du Caillou Cotes Du Rhone Cuvee VV Unique 2016 Sans Liege The Offering Proprietary Red
CLOS Du CAILLOU
2016 COTES Du RHONE
CUVEE UNIQUE VV
 
Your Price: $29.99/btl

Click to Order

 
Robert Parker’s Review on the Regular Cotes to Rhone (The VV is Even Better)…  “The estate’s entry-level wine, the 2016 Cotes du Rhone Le Caillou is a stunning value, offering gluggable cherry and blueberry fruit, ample weight and a velvety texture. This Grenache-dominated blend should drink well for the next 5 years.” 90 Points
SANS LIEGE
2016 THE OFFERING
PROPRIETARY RED
 
Your Price: $29/btl

Click to Order

 
From The Wine Spectator: “Distinctive, refined and well-built, offeringexpressive black cherry, cigar box, green olive and cured meat accents that build richness on the long finish. Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Viognier. Drink now through 2026.” 94 Points