Rutherford

Napa Valley · USA · Wine Auction Prices

Rutherford is one of Napa Valley's historic heartlands, home to some of California's oldest continuously farmed Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards and the source of what wine legend André Tchelistcheff called 'Rutherford Dust' — a distinctive earthy, dusty minerality that he identified as unique to the appellation's alluvial soils. The Rutherford Bench, a series of coalescing alluvial fans from the Mayacamas Mountains, produces the most complex expression of this dusty minerality: Inglenook (formerly Niebaum-Coppola), Beaulieu Vineyard's Georges de Latour Private Reserve, and Rubicon Estate are the historical anchors of the appellation. Beaulieu's Georges de Latour, produced continuously since 1936 and the longest-running premium California Cabernet, was the wine Tchelistcheff used to establish the Rutherford Dust concept. Caymus Vineyards, founded in 1971, has become one of Napa's most commercially successful estates and produces one of the most widely traded California Cabernets at auction — particularly the Special Selection cuvée. The AVA was established in 1993 and covers approximately 1,600 hectares of the valley floor and lower benchland.