Todd Andrlik, The Napa Wine Journal  Nov. 2019

The vineyard began garnering broader attention in 2008, with the introduction of the estate VHR, Vine Hill Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon.  While 90 percent of Vine Hill Ranch’s fruit still goes to other producers, the estate VHR wine repeatedly attracts the spotlight. All ten VHR vintages since its inaugural 2008 release have earned ratings north of 95 points, with Antonio Galloni awarding the 2016 a perfect score.[ii]

Achieving continuous critical acclaim should come as no surprise to most wine professionals. The vineyard has an impressive pedigree that dates back to the mid-nineteenth century.

An Agricultural Gold Mine
In the early 1850s, California was celebrating its statehood and Napa Valley was bustling with settlers as their plows cut through the mostly virgin land. Enormous cattle herds grazed on the valley’s wild grasses. Beautiful wildflowers and magnificent oak trees dotted the landscape, which had long been occupied by local Indian tribes who hunted and gathered more than they farmed. Early settlers built humble homes miles apart and some had private plantings of fruit trees and grapevines. [iii]

The area was an agricultural gold mine to pioneers. More than 120 years before the Judgement of Paris, Napa Valley’s exceptionally fertile soil was earning the highest levels of praise. It was labeled “one of the richest agricultural districts in the state” by U.S. Boundary Commissioner John Russell Bartlett, who toured the valley in 1852. “If this romantic valley were transferred to the older countries of Europe, it would be taken for the domain of a prince or a nobleman,” he wrote. [iv]

A well-known Napa Valley resident at that time was George Yount. About a dozen years earlier, he received a 12,000-acre land grant from the Mexican government that included present-day Oakville. Yount described the land around his “Caymus Rancho” as “some of the most fertile in the world—it would be difficult in any country to find land, in point of fertility, superior to that in Napa Valley.” [v]

In the late 1840s, Yount sold 650 acres of Caymus Rancho—just west of today’s Highway 29 near Yountville—to his former Missouri neighbor Charles Hopper for a discounted per-acre price of $1.50. Along the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains, near groves of live oaks and madrone trees, Hopper eventually planted about 20 acres to grapevines. Hopper’s humble vineyard on the present-day Vine Hill Ranch set in motion a farming pedigree that includes Hopper, Whitton, Hahn, Taddei, Kelham and now Phillips. [vi]

Location, Elevation and Microclimate
Vine Hill Ranch is tucked away in the southwest corner of the Oakville appellation benchland, approximately 200 to 300 feet elevation. The well-draining rocky loam is comprised of quartz-rich marine sediments with sodium and potassium minerals. [vii]

Being over 70 acres in scope creates a palette reflective of distinct soil characteristics and compositions. The vineyard is at the base of an alluvial fan, bordered by two streams, dotted with numerous knolls of rhyolitic deposits, and surrounded by hundreds of acres of wildlands.

The microclimate features a cool morning fog from San Pablo Bay that often reaches the vineyard. Tucked along the base of the Mayacamas Range, the vineyard’s location results in less intense afternoon sun exposure. The addition of an afternoon breeze means a slightly cooler grape growing experience compared to Rutherford, St. Helena and Calistoga.

A unique trellising system augments the microclimate. “Interestingly, a fair amount of the vineyard is trellised quite high off the ground,” wrote Kelli White in Napa Then & Now. Viticulturist Michael Wolf, who has managed the vineyard since 1998, explained the reason to White. “There is an average four- to five-degree difference in the daily temperature between fruiting zones that are two feet vs four feet off the ground. This difference helps slow down the ripening and promotes elegance and acidity in the elevated grapes.” [viii]

“Combined, all of these elements consistently create winegrapes of singular quality and character,” VHR Managing Partner Bruce Phillips told The Napa Wine Journal.

Seven-block Winemaker’s Toolkit

Approximately 71 acres, or roughly 16 percent, of the 450-acre ranch is planted to vine. The vineyard is split into seven distinctive blocks with all but one being exclusively Cabernet Sauvignon (Block 3 is about 21-percent Petit Verdot). To make the estate VHR wine, one-acre plots from selected blocks are custom vinified and aged, then uniquely blended with the technical harvest details outlined on each vintage’s wine label. The separate blocks contribute different characteristics to the wine with “fruit from our higher vineyard blocks exuding an earthy, forest floor chaparral quality—the sloping grade, gravelly soil and most mature vines produce intense, concentrated and expressive black fruit,” according to the VHR website. “Blocks on the lower benchland, with its deep, loamy soils and younger vines, yield bright fruit flavors and fine tannins full of verve and energy.” [ix]

Wine professional Karen Ulrich provided the best decoder ring for deciphering the seven VHR blocks. In 2012, she wrote:

Three Generations of Progress
In 1959, Bruce Kelham, a San Francisco-based architect and rancher who played a role in the establishment of the Point Reyes National Seashore, acquired more than 1,000 acres of land in Napa Valley, which he named Vine Hill Ranch. In the 1960s and much of the 1970s, the property was primarily farmed for hay and walnuts, with the balance dedicated to winegrape.

In the late 1970s, the second generation—Alex (Kelham) and Bob Phillips—directed a ranch renovation project that transitioned the bulk of farmland to grapevines. The vineyard featured a variety of white and red winegrape varieties then. A decade later, following the phylloxera infestation of the late 1980s, the land was replanted almost exclusively to Cabernet Sauvignon. “Bob transformed Vine Hill Ranch into a world-class vineyard,” according to his 2014 obituary. “Widely respected for his kindness and integrity, Bob forged solid and long-lasting partnerships with leading wine producers including Araujo Estate, Cakebread Cellars, Duckhorn Vineyards, Etude, Harlan Estate, Lail Vineyards and the Robert Mondavi Winery. He became an integral part of the Napa Valley and dedicated himself to agricultural land preservation and to the community.” [xi]

In 1996, Andy Beckstoffer, who is “very careful to buy … historically significant vineyards,” acquired a large section of the vineyard just west of Route 29 and named it Beckstoffer Missouri Hopper. [xii]

In the 2000s, the third generation—led by Bruce and Heather Phillips—assumed a more active role in vineyard operations and brought with them a vision to create a true wine of place from the vineyard. Following years of planning and preparation, the inaugural 2008 commercial vintage of the VHR estate wine was released. “Moving into winemaking closes the loop,” said Bruce Phillips at the Napa Valley Grapegrowers 2011 Budbreak Conference. [xiii]

The inaugural VHR release and every vintage since has been master-crafted by Francoise Peschon, who studied at the University of California Davis and apprenticed at Chateau Haut-Brion before serving as winemaker for 15 years at Araujo Estate. Shortly after its release in 2011, the 2008 vintage earned 95 points by Antonio Galloni, who wrote, “Vine Hill Ranch has to be one of the most exciting debuts in Napa Valley.” [xiv]

Like a decades-long relay race, each generation of Vine Hill Ranch leadership has played a vital role in the vineyard’s success. The first generation acquired the land, the second generation dedicated the land to vine, and the third generation launched the estate wine brand. Land lineage and continuity of care dating back to Napa’s settlement, coupled with high-integrity generational influence, translates to an extraordinary history and remarkable wine.

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