2014 Rudius Wines Syrah Hudson Vineyard Carneros 750 ml

In the last couple of years, Rudius Wines have garnered a slate of perfect 5-star ratings on Wine Access, but one particular review said it all: “Off the charts best wine I ever drank from Wine Access!” 

Today, winemaker Jeff Ames of Rudius and TOR fame throws open the doors to one of his most profound library wines—the 95-point 2014 Rudius Hudson Vineyard Syrah, which hails from the famed Carneros site planted by the legendary Texan Lee Hudson. This highly-prized, pristine site boasts white volcanic ash soils, which lend a distinct European flair to the wines produced here. 

Ames’ Rudius reds have become Wine Access favorites, and this Hudson Vineyard Syrah will be no exception. Having quietly rested in the Rudius library cellars since bottling in 2016, it is a monumental effort showing a core note of blackberry liqueur seasoned with tri-colored peppercorn, licorice, and black olives. Robert Parker’s longtime reviewer Jeb Dunnuck called it “beautiful” with “loads of complexity as well as texture,” in his 95-point ode. Currently priced at $50, offered today at 30% off SRP—Syrah lovers, we highly suggest nabbing this one by the case. 

We’d put Rudius up against a dozen other Napa hallmarks, especially after a recent visit with Ames at his estate. In a lineup of back vintages from the current release to 2012, we were floored bottle after bottle by the freshness and purity of the wines, but 2014 stole the show.

When Ames pulled out some iconic Northern Rhône Valley Syrahs from Cornas and Côte-Rôtie to demonstrate how his compared, it only intensified our already firm opinion that Ames is making one of the finest Syrah wines in all of the United States. His isn’t dense and extracted, rather it reveals aromas and flavors that are dominated by earth, charcuterie, and the textbook minerality of Hudson Vineyard, balanced by bright, natural acidity.  

Lee Hudson’s Syrah plantings have attracted the very best winemakers in Napa—Ames’ obsession is shared by Ehren Jordan, John Kongsgaard, and Morgan Twain-Peterson MW, who all make Hudson Syrah—bottles that carry price tags far above that of Rudius, particularly Kongsgaard which runs into triple digits. 

As Ames continues to flirt with 100-point perfection (he’s garnered several 99-point scores), success must not have seemed so obvious just a decade ago. He sold his first home in Napa in order to found Rudius Wines. He’d learned to make wine in Oregon under Lynn Penner-Ash, then in Napa with 100-point master Thomas Rivers Brown before, at just 31, being named winemaker at TOR. 

As California’s historic dry spell went on from 2012 to 2015, so did the streak of sublime Napa vintages, and with it, Jeff Ames’s upward trajectory. Wine Spectator has written that Ames “has become one of Napa's rising stars,” pointing out that “Rudius is named for the wooden sword that was presented to a gladiator when freed by the emperor of Rome,” and that for Ames it represents “his mission to make wine in his own style.” We love his style, and so do Wine Access members—see for yourself what all the fuss is about with this rare gem from the Rudius cellars.