Rutherford, like its neighbor Oakville, hosts some of the absolute top quality Bordeaux style vineyards in California.  Rutherford is known for producing ultra luxury Cabernet Sauvignon.  The combination of the Rutherford Bench and Rutherford dust is magic. 
Although hosting more than twice the population of neighboring Oakville, Rutherford is still more of an area than an actual town.  Even so, there are a few great restaurants, outstanding wineries and some very interesting wine / valley history.   One has to be sure to stop by the Rubicon Estate that was originally established as the Inglenook Estate.  Some other wineries of interest are Grigich Hills and Beaulieu Vineyard. 

In 2010 Rutherford had a population of 164 residents.  Rutherford was originally part of the Mexican land grant Rancho Caymus that was deeded to early settler George Yount.  Yount later gave a portion to his daughter and her husband Thomas Rutherford who became a producer of high quality wine in the late 1800’s.