Creating Opportunities for Wine Professionals

The Rudd family and the Rudd Foundation have been steadfast supporters of the sommelier community for decades. They believe in creating educational opportunities for wine professionals to expand knowledge and understanding. Each calendar year, the top scorers of the Court of Master Sommeliers Advanced Exam are named the Rudd Scholars for that year and attend the Rudd Round Table the following March. This is a unique educational program that provides students with an intensive and intimate learning environment as they study to become Master Sommeliers. To complete the Rudd Round Table, SommFoundation invites all eligible students to apply. All applicants are required to provide letters of recommendation. Our SommFoundation team selects the additional participants through a rigorous vetting process. Being selected for this event is a recognition of both significant accomplishment and remarkable potential.

The History of the Rudd Estate & the Rudd Round Table

Leslie Rudd was the impetus behind this event.

Leslie’s journey into the food and beverage industry began when he joined his father’s alcoholic beverage wholesale distribution business in Wichita, Kansas. Due to his leadership, Standard Beverage Corporation grew to be the state’s largest alcoholic beverage wholesaler and represents most of the world’s premium wine, beer, and spirits brands.

Intent on furthering his experience, Leslie expanded into the specialty foods space successfully launching and investing in several national restaurants as well as adding the iconic Dean & DeLuca to his portfolio, which he owned until 2014. In 2005, Leslie desired to cast a new vision on the steakhouse concept and take inspiration from the famed L’Ami Louis of Paris in creating PRESS Restaurant, a modern steakhouse located in St. Helena, California. PRESS Restaurant features the most extensive list of Napa Valley wines in the world with vintages back to the 1950s. Leslie’s passion for bridging the gap between the past and present was further evident in the 2012 renovation of Oakville Grocery, which he purchased in 2007 to make sure that it would remain open as one of the oldest groceries in the country. Each of these ventures shared a commitment to excellence and appreciation of artisan products by blending the traditions of the past while instilling a modern twist. Before his passing in 2018, Leslie handed over the reins to his daughter Samantha.

Leslie’s wife, Susan, is responsible for the beautiful gardens on the Estate. She can be found digging in its soils with a radiant glow about her. Her smile and warmth are felt across the entire Estate.

Leslie is survived by his daughter, Samantha Rudd.

Samantha grew up on Rudd Estate where, at age nine, she decided she would do whatever it takes to care for the land and fulfill a generational promise that she made to her father—that upon receiving the reins at Rudd, she would leave the Estate to the next generation better off than when she assumed leadership. At the time, she knew little of the hard work and twenty-year journey that would lead her to where she is today.

Samantha remembers the lessons instilled by her father through two decades of working side-by-side on the Estate. The core beliefs of stewardship earned success, and an uncompromising dedication to excellence was distilled into that generational promise that guides her today.

Samantha spent the last four years working outside of the family business learning from some of the best in the world. She most recently returned from an internship at Château Margaux.

Samantha returned to Rudd at the beginning of 2016, a homecoming she had been anticipating for as long as she can remember. She immediately began implementing her long-term vision, ranging from championing the Estate’s organic farming practices to fostering unlikely collaborations that seek inspiration beyond the world of fine wine.