Kingsmark Wine was founded by Dallas based Whitney Skibell. In 1888, Whitney’s great great grandfather started Colorado Cooperage Works; his first business was to deliver wood barrels to Coors Brewery in Golden, Colorado. Her grandfather, Samuel Rudd, the eldest son worked for the family business.
Rudd, a career entrepreneur (died 1986) moved to Wichita in 1935 after graduating from the University of Denver. During World War II he operated Kansas Cold Storage Company.
Rudd and his wife Elenore (died 2007) founded Standard Mercantile in 1949 in Wichita. The fact that Kansas would go ‘wet’ would soon prove fortuitous. The company was founded as a result of voters of Kansas repealing outdated prohibition liquor laws in 1948. The company would later be called Standard Liquor Corporation (SLC); it is currently known as Standard Beverage Corporation (SBC) and has become the state’s largest beer, spirits and wine wholesaler with multiple distribution spaces located throughout the state. Within their wine portfolio are a number of brands from Napa Valley.
The family business was founded upon hard work (Whitney recalls her grandfather worked 7 days a week until he passed), perseverance, a focus on quality, and a commitment to community,
In the 1990s Whitney’s uncle, Leslie Rudd (Rudd Winery, Napa Valley) worked with the Kansas Wine & Spirits Wholesalers Association to change state laws to allow wine auctions. He was successful and with the support of Standard Beverage Corporation, two wine auctions were started in 1999: the Salute! Festival of Food and Wine in Lawrence, KS and the Manhattan KS Flint Hills Festival of Wines.
This is not the first kosher wine the family has been involved with. During a charity tasting at Rudd Winery in 2002 winemaker Jeff Morgan was pouring wine next to Leslie; Leslie commented about wanting to produce a premium kosher wine. By the next year Leslie and Jeff and Jeff’s wife Jodie became partners in a brand called Covenant. And Jeff was soon hired by Leslie to be the Wine Director Dean & DeLuca. While the Rudd family is no longer involved with this brand, Jeff continues to produce Covenant wines from his winery in Berkely, CA.
Elenore was an integral part of the family business. Her early career was spent working for her uncles (the Levand brothers) who owned the Wichita Beacon Newspaper. A scholarship was established in her name at Wichita State University (Eleanor Rudd Scholarship) and is still awarded to first-generation low income students. March 18, 2000 was proclaimed Eleanor Rudd Day in Wichita.
Those interested in further information about the Rudd family and three other families related through marriage, can do so by reading, The Entrepreneurial Spirit in America, published in 2002. Leslie Rudd commissioned a genealogist to research the history of these four families: Rudd, Kortz, Finkenstein and Levand. Authors Irene Saunders Goldstein & Eileen Polakoff have done a remarkable job of detailing the journey of these families from eastern Europe to the U.S. and have have profiled numerous family members. As part of this research, Rudd helped organize a sizeable ‘family’ reunion in 1995 where relatives were able to meet some of their other family members for the first time.
Whitney’s great great grandfather Joseph Rudnitsky immigrated from what is now Lithuania to New York and then settled in Chicago with his wife Beckie. According to The Entrepreneurial Spirit in America, Joseph’s surname was originally Shapiro, but was changed to Rudnitsky to avoid his being drafted into the Russian army. And this same book lists 1899 as the year family members changed their name from Rudnitsky to Rudd.
Another family Rudd family member Myron J. Rudd founded the Rudd Box Company in 1920. Remarkably this business is still operating (in Chicago) and celebrated their 100th anniversary in 2000.
The inception of Kinsgmark starts with family. Whitney grew up in the family business; while raised in Dallas she would spend her summers in Wichita and became very close to her grandparents. She remembers family conversations were dominated by wine and spirits. She had long conversations with Leslie about kosher wines including questioning why there wasn’t a kosher wine that would stand among some of the world’s best wines. Leslie didn’t live to see this vision fully realized, but he would certainly be proud of Kingsmark’s respect for heritage and quality.
For Whitney, Kingsmark is not just another wine label. It is deeply personal and is the realization of a dream come true; Kingsmark is rooted in legacy but fueled by passion, perseverance and resilience. She stands upon generations of family who followed their own dreams and walks in their footsteps.
The name Kingsmark is in homage to Leslie and his significant contributions to the wine industry. And to his ‘mark’, his contributions of being a vintner, his commitment to quality, a philanthropist, an entrepreneur and someone who respected and honored tradition.
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In Jewish tradition, all wine is actually kosher (holy) but to be certified kosher by the Union of Orthodox Rabbi’s for Passover, all handling of the grapes from harvest to crushing until either the bottles are sealed or the wine is pasteurized must be strictly conducted by Sabbath-observant Jews. Kosher wines in part mean that no animal products are used during the making of the wine including egg whites, which are often used during the fining process. There are other restrictions such as forbidding the use of certain yeasts and other ingredients. Many kosher wines are hit with high temperature (flash pasteurization) or Mevushal; Kingsmark’s wines do not use this process.
Overseen by winemakers Philippe Melka and Maayan Koschitzky, the team at Atelier Melka produces the Kingsmark wines. And while Atelier Melka has produced some of the Napa Valley’s most sought out wines for a variety of clients, this was their first ever Kosher wine produced.
The wine was originally produced at Girard Winery, a winery that has Rudd family connections. In 1996 Leslie purchased what was the original location of Girard Winery, the present home of Rudd Estate. Kingsmaark is currently produced at the state of the art Tench Vineyards in Oakville, a short distance from Rudd Winery.
When referring to kosher wines in Napa Valley, one must always start with Hagafen Winery. This was California’s first modern-day kosher winery and has played a prominent role in elevating the reputation of kosher wines. There are now at least eight wineries or brands in Napa Valley making at least one bottling of kosher wine. Others besides Kingsmark include CAPIO (a partnership between Morris Family and Herzog Cellars), Marciano Estate, ONEHOPE, Mayacamas, Padis, Shadybrook and Tench.
Select Wines
If we were to title an article about Kingsmark for another publication, it would be, “Rethinking Kosher wine: Kinsgmark”. With their inaugural vintage, Kingsmark has set the bar high and is on the forefront of creating the space for high-end collector kosher wines.
The 2021 Kingsmark Cabernet Sauvignon is 100% varietal; the grapes were sourced from both Georges III Vineyard in Rutherford and Roy Estate located in Soda Canyon. This wine is deep ruby and opaque with an amaranthine rim; on the bouquet both floral and fruit aromatics immediately jump out. These include violets, lilacs, blackberry, dark plum, boysenberry, dark cherry and blueberry accompanied by a light layer of dust and a hint of dark cocoa powder and mint as it evolves in the glass. The fruit is the star of the show here on both the bouquet and the palate. And the fruit holds its character as this wine opens. It has both depth, intensity and concentration – all attributes expressive of this vintage in particular in Napa Valley. The palate is both dark and savory offering flavors of plum, blackberry and boysenberry with a lingering dark spicy and dusty character. The oak is a complementary presence. Finishes with grainy and lightly gritty tannins which gently outpace the fruit. This is a remarkably balanced bottling for both its age and its vintage (we tasted 3.5 years post vintage). This wine was aged for 12 months aged in 80% new French oak barrels.
Each new vintage is always released in the fall.
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In 2025 Kingsmark won the Graphis Gold Award in the 2025 Graphis Design Awards for its beautiful label design. The attractive label was created by designer Michael Vanderbyl of Vanderbyl Design and offer elements reflecting family heritage. These attributes include images of grapes representing the family legacy, two roses representing Whitney’s grandmother and great grandmother, the R for Rudd. And the Latin phrase representing the state motto of Kansas, “Ad astra per Aspera” – in English meaning, “To the stars through difficulties”.
And what was a milestone moment for all Kosher wines, in 2024 the 2021 vintage of Kinsgmark was awarded 98 points by Jonathan Cristaldi of Decanter Magazine, the highest ever score given to a Kosher wine.
The wines are sold via an allocation model with a limited number of placements in fine dining restaurants including the French Laundry, Spago in Beverly Hills, Carbone New York, Carbone Dallas and in parts of Florida. Several kosher wine shops on Long Island also carry the wine. Benchmark wine Company sells a limited number of bottles through their online retail shop. And every Total Wine location within California, Florida and New York picked up a three pack of the inaugural vintage.
A small amount of Kinsgmark is distributed in Mexico City with plans for limited placement in parts of Israel. And Whitney has shown the wines at a select number of consumer events each year including the Taste of Vail.
Production is tiny, depending on the vintage is typically under 200 cases (the 2021 vintage was 180 cases). For more information, to purchase wine, or to join their allocation list, visit: www.kingsmarkwine.com
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