Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media, vinous.com  Dec. 2018

VHR, Vine Hill Ranch

These are two magnificent wines from VHR. Proprietors Bruce and Heather Phillips, along with their team led by winemaker Françoise Peschon and vineyard manager Mike Wolf, are making some of the most compelling wines in Napa Valley. The 2016 is a majestic, regal wine that captures the essence of this great Napa Valley vintage. I was perhaps even more impressed with the 2017, which is one of my favorite wines of the vintage so far. As it turns out, I happened to visit the Vine Hill Ranch on the last day of harvest for the estate wine, September 23 (some clients picked later), and tasted the separate lots in fermentation then this past spring and fall. The 2017 here has never been anything less than showy in the very best sense of the word. These days, VHR is at the top of the pack in Napa Valley. And, I have written here before, the wines VHR makes but that do not make it into their final blend, are better than those wines other properties do bottle!