Winemaker - Rudy von Strasser

Rudy von Strasser has been named by Wine & Spirits Magazine as one of the 2014 Wineries of the Year. Rudy has received this nomination 11 of the last 12 years. Rudy began his winemaking career in 1984 at Hacienda Winery. He graduated from the UC Davis Winemaking Program in 1985, and began an internship at Chateau Lafite-Rothschild. He later worked as the Enologist at Napa’s Trefethen Winery and at Newton Vineyards as Assistant Winemaker. Rudy von Strasser began his own winery in 1990. Rudy's winemaking philosophy centers on the concept that great wines are created in the vineyard and not in the winery. His most important winemaking tool is his palate: his ability to understand and analyze each vineyard’s wine potential through the tasting of the grapes. All of the grapes used are picked at their optimum ripeness when the flavors are peaking and the tannins have become ripe and soft. Based on these harvest decisions, the correct combination of fermentation and winemaking techniques are employed to maximize each vineyard’s potential. The end result is wine of great extract and a tannin complex which is both huge and soft at the same time, making these hillside wines both approachable when young, yet also worthy of further development with age.