While living in New York City I often attended the Wine Spectator’s Wine Experience Event which is held every year in October at the New York Marriott Marquis. Together with my wife, brother-in-law and sister-in-law we would visit with many of the 150 wineries from around the world who showcase their wines at various lectures and tastings. The highlight of the event is an incredible grand tasting where you can talk to various winemakers and taste wines they recently released. One of the wines we discovered at the 2007 event was Tor (torwines.com), a California producer of Reserve and single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay owned by Tor Kenward. Tor Kenward himself attended the 2007 Wine Spectator Event and was pouring one of his Cabernet Sauvignon’s. Not being familiar with Tor it was enjoyable to “discover” what has become one of the most sought after producers in Napa Valley. Last March we had a chance to spend some time with Tor at his home in St. Helena (Napa Valley) and gained an appreciation for his career in the wine industry and the labor of love associated with producing great wines.
Earlier this week I spoke to Jeff Ames who has been the winemaker at Tor since 2003. In addition to producing Tor, Jeff has his own winery called Rudius (rudiuswines.com). Rudius is a family operation where Jeff leads the winemaking and his wife Brittany leads Sales and Marketing. The focus at Rudius is on Cabernet Sauvignon made from some of the same grapes sourced to produce Tor. Jeff is particularly excited about the 2014 Rudius Cabernet Sauvignons as they will be the first vintage made from fruit grown on his recently acquired property on Howell Mountain. No need to wait until 2014 though as the 2012 and 2013 Rudius Cabernet Sauvignons are outstanding.
Like many winemakers, Jeff strongly believes the quality of the fruit coming out of the vineyard primarily determines the quality of the wine. While Jeff is proud of his winemaking skills, he freely admits there is not much a winemaker can do with mediocre fruit. We talked about the attention to detail required in the vineyard (pruning, paring back the canopy to increase sunlight on the fruit) during the growing season and Jeff believes greater emphasis and attention are required with younger vines versus older, more established vines. It was interesting to get Jeff’s perspective on the 2012 and 2013 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon vintages. The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignons have received very high marks but the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignons are being described as the best vintage in more than 35 years. When comparing the 2012 and 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon vintages, Jeff described the 2012 berries as large with thin skins and 2013 as smaller berries with thicker skins. He believes the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignons are fruit driven and very drinkable now where as the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignons are more structured, and will age very well.
If you are looking to acquire outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon I would urge you to contact Tor and Rudius Wines and enjoy the work of Jeff Ames.