The Traveling Grape

I was introduced to Tudal’s exceptional wine right here in my town of Raleigh NC. I was dining at one of my favorite hangouts, Vivace in North Hills, and the manager introduced me to an exceptional person and fellow wine lover with close ties to Tudal Winery. He had with him this beautifully hand etched 3 liter bottle holding an equally beautiful 2000 Estate Bottled Cabernet Sauvignon. As we met he so generously poured me a glass of this deep plum color wine with a beautiful lingering finish of ripe dark berries and chocolate. As I savored this elegant wine he explained to me a little about Tudal; that their production was very limited so they could maintain the quality and consistency that is the reputation of the Tudal family.

The vines for this 2000 Estate Cab were planted in 1974. The 2000 growing season allowed extra “hang-time” insuring maximum ripeness. They extended the maceration (this is the winemaking process where the tannins, coloring and flavor are extracted from the grape skins, seeds and stems into the juice) to give the wine an intensity and color that many Cab drinkers like. Immediately following fermentation, the wine was allowed to settle an additional two weeks. They then transferred the wine to sixty gallon French oak barrels where it aged for thirty months.

Tudal winery was founded in 1974 by Arnold and Alma Tudal where Arnold planted Cabernet Sauvignon on ten acres of land on the advice of Louis P. Martini. In 1977 he was making his own wines from those vines and in 1978 he found that they were growing enough high quality fruit to sell his wines on a very small scale. Today they continue to produce around 2,000 cases of estate Cabernet Sauvignon as well as a variety of blends which include their award winning Tractor Shed Red. “We didn’t even intend to go into the wine business” explains Arnold’s son, John, who took over the vineyard and winery in 2001 when his parent’s retired.

In Oct of this year I was thrilled to meet John Tudal. He is such an energetic, hospitable, big-hearted man with lots of passion for his wines as well as the industry as a whole. He took over the vineyard and winery in 2001 when Arnold and Alma retired. Then in 2007 Johns nephew Matt joined Tudal and now manages the Wine Club and onsite sales as well as works very closely with Kirk Venge, their winemaker. Venge still makes wine for his family Vineyards of Calistoga as well as several small Napa Valley brands. He is son of Nils Venge who is considered to be one of the Napa Valley’s best winemakers.

John Tudal said of his winemaker “Kirk is such a natural fit for us given the friendship that our fathers shared to his roots from the vineyard to the cellar. The decision to hand to Kirk the winemaking at Tudal Winery was without doubt one of the easiest calls I’ve made at the winery in 30 years. I know my dad would be smiling and saying ‘Could not have made a better choice myself.’ We have asked Kirk to make the best wine possible without the pressure of creating the next Napa Valley cult wine. When I arrive at the winery and see Kirk, I know that I am at home and relaxed almost the same way as when I used to drive up to the winery and see my dad at work doing what he loved to do.”

This is truly a family run business and when you visit them, they have a knack for making you feel like family. It is rare that I stay for hours at one place as there is so many wineries to visit but I found myself instantly absorbed with the excitement of harvest and bottling of their Tractor Shed Red that I not only stayed for hours, but returned two days later! As we walked up the drive upon a little shack and red tractor we saw all the activity of the mobile bottling truck, working efficiently bottling their Tractor Shed Red wines. John instantly greets us and takes us up on the truck to show us how it’s done. This high speed bottling line does everything from the bottle loading dock, pumping in the filtered wine, being corked, placing the foil caps and placing the labels to finally being packed in cases and into pallets, ready to sit back and age. I forget how many bottles they can fill per minute but it is something like 70 or 80 turning out around 2000 cases in a 9 hour day. It was quite a site to see and very exciting to be right there watching hundreds of bottles being filled.

We then moved into this cute tractor shed with Matt and John for the best part of our visit, the tasting. This is exactly the kind of tasting experience I cherish, the ones these small production wineries share with you. In the room to the left was a barrel storage room and then another room occupied a gorgeous old wooden table where they sometimes have wine dinners or private events.

They are just down to earth friendly folks who love to share their passion and wines. Oh did I mention that Tudal’s wines are the favorite of Joe DiMaggio and have been served at The White House. Pretty cool, huh? The entire place is quite beautiful. As you walk to the outside garden area there are large vegetable gardens, a two story wind tower, picnic tables and the families antique tractor from the Tractor Shed Red label. I love it when labels and wines have meaning and stories behind them. You just instantly relax here, in the middle of wine country, sharing wine and laughs. At Tudal it’s so easy to get immersed and become one with the entire winery, becoming the essence of what Napa life is all about.

Finally to the wines! As mentioned they started with their hand crafted Cab and in 1997 introduced the Tractor Shed Red as a tribute to the farmers of American. This is a red blend of Sangiovese, Merlot and Zinfandel which has won several awards. Very well priced, fruit forward and perfect for an every day red. In May of last year John also introduced their Rose, called Mer Blanc. You will find this delightful wine also very entertaining due to the story behind the label. Every vintage is a different label showing Miss Mer Blanc visiting somewhere exciting with a story on the back label. Click here to read more about Mer Blanc.

At Tudal, they make their (‘05) Family Cabernet, an (‘06) “Clift Vineyard” Cabernet, and several others: ‘06 50/50 – Napa/Sonoma Cabernet; ‘06 Cuvee – a blend of Zin, Merlot, & Sangiovese; and, of course, their ‘06 Estate which received a 94 pt rating from the Enthusiast in early Dec. In addition, they have just released: ‘08 Chard (Carneros); ‘08 Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast); ‘07 Syrah (Mt. Veeder); and an ‘07 Zin (Oakville).

The family history is a great story of one of Napa’s hospitable “old-timers” which I think you will enjoy to read as much as I did. Visit Tudal to learn more and find out where you can find his wines. They are based 3 miles north of St Helena right off of Big Tree Road which connects 29 and the Silverado Trail. They are open daily for tours and appointments but you do need to make an appointment. I highly recommend making time to not only visit while in the area because they are so much fun but also find their wines locally or order because they are THAT GOOD! Cheers!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 2:27 pm and is filed under Napa Wineries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.