Napa: Rutherford AVA

With Oakville, the name of Rutherford was put before BATF (see ttb) during 1991 as part of the grower plan to divide all of the Napa Valley into community-based sub-AVAs. The original petition would have further divided Rutherford into Rutherford and Rutherford bench, but that refinement was dropped before hearings began. Before AVAs, Rutherford bench was an innocently coined name meant to distinguish the long, snaky alluvial band stretching along the Napa Valley’s west side, from St Helena down to Yountville, from the more westerly valley floor closer to the Napa River. At the time, Rutherford bench was a source of equal parts mirth and ire in Napa: it’s not a bench and it extends through Oakville. Today folks are comfortable with Rutherford as the AVA, although the west side of this middle stretch of valley, the so-called ‘bench’, is home to many of California’s premier patches of Cabernet Sauvignon, including Beaulieu Vineyard Nos. 1 and 2, Staglin, Inglenook (previously Niebaum-Coppola Rubicon), Bella Oaks, Bosche, Sycamore, and more.