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The von Strasser Story
With
a family connection to Eric de Rothschild, Rudy wrote
a letter asking to do an internship at Chateau Lafite-Rothschild.
Each year the Chateau had been hiring an intern from
the French winemaking program at Montpellier. Thinking
that two minds are better than one, Mr. Rothschild
invited Rudy to work for the 1985 harvest as their
first American intern. (The result was so successful,
that each year since the Chateau has chosen a new
Davis graduate to work as an intern at the winery.)
Rudy
returned to Napa Valley in the spring of 1986 and
was hired as the enologist at Trefethen Winery and
Vineyards. In 1988, he became the assistant winemaker
in charge of production at Newton Vineyards in St.
Helena. Shortly after their marriage in 1989, Rudy
and Rita von Strasser set out looking for a vineyard
property to make their home. Having already developed
a deep passion and talent for producing Cabernet Sauvignon,
Rudy was committed that the property must be in a
microclimate blessed with the ability to grow and
produce the finest red wines in Napa Valley; wines
worthy to carry the von Strasser family name. Serendipitously,
the old Roddis Estate Winery on Diamond Mountain had
just been put on the market, and in the spring of
1990, the von Strasser label was born.
Winemaking
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 palette: his ability to understand and analyze
each vineyard’s wine potential through the tasting
of the grapes. All of the grapes used in the von Strasser
label 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
(including cold soaking, fermentation temperatures,
extended maceration, aeration, and an aggressive barrel
program) 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. The resultant mouth feel is often described
as being “chewy”, and makes these hillside
wines both approachable when young, yet also worthy
of further development with age. The history of the
property reads like a who’s who of early California
Cabernet History. After being denied a permit to turn
his estate into a golf course, William Bounsall decided
to subdivide his property, and in 1968 sold 1/3 of
his property to Albert Brounstein. Canadian born,
Al pioneered the modern decade of winemaking in this
AVA by planting Cabernet Sauvignon in three distinct
vineyard sites and bottling each separately under
the name Diamond Creek Vineyards.
The
next year, 1969, Bounsall himself decided to get into
the grape business and planted 2 acres to Cabernet
Sauvignon with bud-wood from the famous Martha’s
Vineyard. In 1978, Bill Roddis bought the Bounsall
ranch and started Roddis Cellars. The wines were made
by Andre Tcheistcheff, and in their days where considered
by many to be the biggest wines made in the Napa Valley.
In 1985, the winery was sold to the Gilby family (British
gin), who used it as a corporate retreat. The vineyards,
now totaling about 7 acres, were leased to Pine Ridge
Winery, who bottled the grapes separately as their
“Diamond Mountain” Cabernet Sauvignon.
In 1990, Rudy and Rita von Strasser bought the property
and began the fulfilling task of renovating and modernizing
the estate and the vineyards to make the property
one of the gems of Diamond Mountain. The building
that houses the winery is an historic barn that was
built in the late 1880’s. Through careful planning
it has been remodeled into a modern winemaking facility
while retaining its working-ranch charm. To take full
advantage of the hillside location and to better control
the variables of winemaking, the von Strassers added
caves to their property. Dug into the virgin hills,
these caves retain an ideal climate for barrel aging,
and average temperature of 55 degrees and an average
humidity of 80%
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