Producer Article
Von Strasser
Last edited on 7/10/2015 by ChipGreen
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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.
As you drive up Diamond Mountain Road, you leave the valley floor and the crowds behind you and enter a property which many describe as “early Californian.” However, the beauty of the setting is second only to the quality of the wine and personalized attention you will receive.
Winemaker Rudy von Strasser
Owner/Winemaker Rudy von Strasser is a first generation American citizen; his mother is from Hungary and his father is an Austria. He studied winemaking at UC Davis, and after an internship at Chateau Lafite-Rothschild Rudy worked as Enologist at Napa Valley’s Trefethen Family Vineyards for two years, and as Assistant Winemaker at Newton Vineyard for three years. In 1990 Rudy and his wife Rita started their eponymous winery in Napa Valley’s Diamond Mountain District, and quickly became famous for their age-worthy single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignons.
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 in the von Strasser label are picked at their optimum ripeness when the flavors are peaking and the tannins have become ripe and soft. 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.
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.
As you drive up Diamond Mountain Road, you leave the valley floor and the crowds behind you and enter a property which many describe as “early Californian.” However, the beauty of the setting is second only to the quality of the wine and personalized attention you will receive.
Winemaker Rudy von Strasser
Owner/Winemaker Rudy von Strasser is a first generation American citizen; his mother is from Hungary and his father is an Austria. He studied winemaking at UC Davis, and after an internship at Chateau Lafite-Rothschild Rudy worked as Enologist at Napa Valley’s Trefethen Family Vineyards for two years, and as Assistant Winemaker at Newton Vineyard for three years. In 1990 Rudy and his wife Rita started their eponymous winery in Napa Valley’s Diamond Mountain District, and quickly became famous for their age-worthy single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignons.
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 in the von Strasser label are picked at their optimum ripeness when the flavors are peaking and the tannins have become ripe and soft. 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.