Hudson Ranch
Lee Hudson stumbled across the 2,000 acre Carneros property that would become Hudson Ranch in 1981. A native Texan with a love of plants, he had studied horticulture at the University of Arizona, discovered vineyards during a 1973 visit to California, interned at Domaine Dujac, and graduated from UC Davis. Hudson Vineyards has two hundred acres of vineyard, along with heritage breed lambs, pigs, and chickens, olives, and an array of seasonal vegetables. Biodiversity is important to them. They spread six hundred tons of home-produced compost throughout the property annually, and employ permanent cover crops of bell beans, oats and peas, attracting a wide variety of beneficial insects to the entire property.
Nearly forty years after its establishment Hudson Ranch is indisputably one of the most prestigious sources of grapes in the Napa Valley supplying fruit to a stellar line-up of wineries including Kistler, Aubert and Kongsgaard (who consults for Hudson).
Winemaker: Clayton Kirchhoff