Jeff Cole and the Brilliance of Napa Merlot

This week on Another Bottle Down, we're heading to the Napa Valley for a conversation with Jeff Cole, the winemaker at Sullivan Rutherford Estate. A Napa native who grew up in Yountville, Jeff came to winemaking almost by accident, enrolling in wine courses at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo before finding his calling. He honed his craft at Schramsberg Vineyards and J. Davies Estate, then joined Sullivan in 2013, where he has directed the program ever since. Sullivan Rutherford Estate is a fully estate model winery, and the 26-acre property's terroir gives Cole something genuinely special to work with. Despite sitting on the Rutherford Valley floor, the vineyards rest on gravelly soils deposited over centuries by Spring Mountain runoff. That gravel allows fantastic drainage and promotes viticultural stress, and the result shows up in the glass: wines of unusual concentration and structure including some of the most compelling Merlot being produced in Napa Valley today. Sullivan backs that claim with one of the more distinctive tasting experiences in the area where guests blind taste Sullivan's Merlot alongside examples from around the world. Jeff joins Jessica Dupuy on location at the estate to talk through what it means to grow up in Napa, what makes Sullivan distinct, and why this land, and these grapes, have something brilliant to say. Sullivan Rutherford Estate Jessica Dupuy — Merlot's Comeback, Food & Wine

You can listen to Jeff Cole and the Brilliance of Napa Merlot online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Jeff Cole and the Brilliance of Napa Merlot is an episode from Another Bottle Down- Wine Podcast by Mark Rashap and Jessica Dupuy.

This episode is 48:47 long.

This episode was published on Mar 29, 2026.

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