Karen MacNeil, Winespeed, winespeed.com July 9, 2024
From People to Know
Bruce Phillips is the owner, with his family, of one of the most prestigious vineyard sites in Napa Valley: Vine Hill Ranch, nestled at the bottom of the Mayacamas Mountain Range. His family has roots in the Valley dating back to 1869, and Bruce has been managing the property since 2003. He brought with him nearly a decade’s worth of experience as Director of Information Technology Strategy at Constellation Brands, and as the Director of Expansion for natural juice company Odwalla, in the 1990’s. He has also been on the Board of Directors for the California Association of Winegrape Growers and Napa Valley Grapegrowers. Vine Hill Ranch encompasses 600 acres of land, with 70 planted with vines, all of which are Cabernet Sauvignon. He intends on leaving his vineyard land better than he found it through regenerative farming, and growing the best possible Cabernet Sauvignon he can.
In addition to the video, here’s more from Bruce Phillips:
Karen MacNeil: What was your first job in the wine industry?
Bruce Phillips: My early years at Vine Hill Ranch were focused on horses and horsemanship, which was of significant focus for the family at that time. While my youth was spent performing myriad tasks across the ranch, from caring for the horses, trail work, weed control, digging and fence repair, to vineyard work; much of my professional experience in the wine industry can be attributed to my working with Constellation Brands Inc., ultimately as Director of IT Business Strategy (1999-2012). In this role, I was tasked with standardizing sales, marketing, viticultural and blend operations across their numerous operating companies. In this capacity, I had the opportunity to work with so many talented sales and marketing teams as well as Constellation Brands’ viticultural and winemaking teams around the world.
At this time, I also began to assume leadership of Phillips Family Farming, our family’s winegrape farming business, from my father; aligning vintner partnerships atop our family’s vineyard, continuing to redevelop the vineyard and managing the farming operations at Vine Hill Ranch in partnership with Mike Wolf, our Vineyard Manager for the past 28 seasons.
KM: What was the toughest part of your early years?
BP: In the early days of working with my father, I was anxious to prove myself and make a mark. My enthusiasm could perhaps outweigh my experience. I now appreciate how gracious my father was in passing the reins over. He was an excellent and patient mentor, and it was a gift to get to work together for nearly fifteen years prior to his passing following the harvest of 2015.
KM: Did you have a mentor? Tell us about her/him.
BP: My father, certainly, but there were many that have and continue to serve as role models and advisors. Grape grower Andy Beckstoffer and Vineyard Manager Mike Wolf come immediately to mind, but so many have informed my experience over the years.
KM: Why did you choose to only grow Cabernet Sauvignon on Vine Hill Ranch?
BP: While we have grown numerous varieties at Vine Hill Ranch over the course of the almost seventy years that we have been in the Napa Valley, the vineyard is uniquely a Cabernet Sauvignon site, possessing a broad variety of soils, elevations and exposures that present the opportunity to produce singular Cabernet Sauvignon wines from the site. While the site is predominantly dedicated to Cabernet Sauvignon, we do have a small planting of Petit Verdot on the benchland portion of the vineyard, which are noted more for their expression of the vineyard site than the variety.
KM: Vine Hill Ranch is described as a “Grower’s Wine.” What does that mean?
BP: Each growing season at Vine Hill Ranch is distinct, presenting myriad opportunities and challenges, but each season is focused on producing the finest Cabernet Sauvignon crop possible from my family’s vineyard. A “grower’s wine” is intended to reflect the distinct character imbued by each season within which it was brought forward, exhibiting the unique characteristics afforded by the variant soils, aspects and clonal/rootstock combinations. To produce a “grower’s wine” requires an innate sense of each of the eighteen vineyard sub-blocks’ varietal expression each year, employing classic, old-world winemaking techniques with a minimal touch approach that allow the fruit to express itself in the glass.
KM: You have seen Napa Valley grow through the years. What has been the most surprising thing you have seen change?
BP: Growing up through the 1980’s, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon wines were summarily dismissed in favor of wines from the Old World’s great Cabernet wine regions. Through dedication, continued investment and generational commitment, the Napa Valley is now regarded among the great wine regions of the world, lauded largely for the caliber of its Cabernet Sauvignon wines. Particularly remarkable, is the fact that the special vineyard sites that comprise the appellation remain, despite the Napa Valley’s proximity to the San Francisco Bay Area. The continued focus on stewarding the remarkable agricultural and open space resources that comprise the Napa Valley appellation is truly remarkable in the face of continued development pressure. It is a longstanding generational, community supported commitment that continues to surprise me.
“The continued focus on stewarding the remarkable agricultural and open space resources that comprise the Napa Valley appellation is truly remarkable in the face of continued development pressure. It is a longstanding generational, community supported commitment that continues to surprise me.”
KM: You are very focused on sustainability in your vineyards. Are you focusing any of those philosophies in the bottling or packaging of your wines?
BP: While our farming practices are wholly sustainable, intended to enhance the environment in which we farm and rewarding those that care for the land, these practices are continually evolving as we embrace new techniques and technologies. Having only entered the winemaking side of the business with the inaugural release of the VHR, Vine Hill Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon in 2011, we are rapidly evolving our practices to address the environmental impacts associated with the production and distribution of our wine globally. This includes evaluating everything from how we source glass, capsules and corks to providing the option to receive our wines in fully recycled corrugate packaging instead of our standard cedar case box.
KM: What do you consider your greatest achievement?
BP: As the third generation of my family to steward Vine Hill Ranch, I am most proud of my family’s continued commitment to carry forward our farming business to subsequent generations of the Phillips family. Having lost my mother and father seven years ago, I am so pleased that I have the opportunity to now succeed this land and our business to the next generation, who share a focus on stewardship and the production of singular expressions from this remarkable vineyard site.