VHR Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 Vintage
VHR 2023 In the wake of the challenging 2022 vintage, the 2023 growing season presented idyllically temperate conditions and an extended harvest period at Vine Hill Ranch, absent any ill-timed heat or rain events. With ample winter rainfall and predominantly temperate growing conditions, this vintage is noted for its bright fruit character and modest yields expressing remarkably refined structure and purity of varietal character.
Having received abundant winter rainfall, the season provided the vineyard access to ample nutrients, promoting large canopies and proportional fruit set across the vineyard. Considerable effort was expended to maintain necessary balance in the vineyard, including thinning canopies and reducing resultant crop loads, resulting in a winegrape crop that presented the opportunity to craft a wine of bright fruit character and tremendous site expressivity.
While limited in its production, the 2023 VHR Cabernet Sauvignon is a wine of tremendous focus and complexity from what is considered to be a truly remarkable vintage for the Napa Valley. Fruit harvested from Vine Hill Ranch’s blocks 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 contribute to a wine of exceptional site expression and varietal character, harmoniously highlighting the attributes of the individual vineyard blocks. The result is a wine that is beautifully balanced, wonderfully complex, and distinctive to my family’s vineyard in Oakville.
The 2023 VHR, Vine Hill Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon sports a deep garnet-purple hue with a perfume of red roses, violets, crushed rocks, and forest floor. Floral flavors, black fruit, and red berry flavors combine with firm, fine-grained tannins and lovely freshness, coalescing to produce a Cabernet Sauvignon possessing beautiful mid-palate density, a pure, layered, elegant mouthfeel, ultra-fine tannins, and a remarkably lengthy finish.
The 2023 harvest began in the early morning of September 22, ending on October 5. Grapes were scrupulously hand-sorted and aged in French oak for 9 months, then blended and returned to barrel for an additional 12 months. 1165 cases were bottled in June 2025.
An abundant 2023 harvest began on September 22, with portions of our benchland Block 3 yielding an average of 4.04 tons per acre. Our hillside blocks 1 and 6 yielded 4.28 and 4.11 tons per acre respectively, while our benchland blocks 4 and 5 yielded 4.18 and 1.66 tons per acre, completing our harvest on October 5.
