2017 Vine Hill Ranch (VHR) Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

Vine Hill Ranch stands with To Kalon, Eisele, and Dr. Crane as one of the defining Cabernet Sauvignon sites in all of Napa Valley. It was founded by Marin County rancher Bruce Kelham, who in 1959 purchased more than 1000 acres on the varied terrain where the Mayacamas Mountains meet the valley floor. The site already had seven decades of agricultural history, having grown grapes, plums, pears, and other crops since 1884. 

In 1978, Bruce’s daughter Alexandra and her husband Bob Phillips moved to the western Oakville property, took over the farming, and refocused on the vineyards, which now cover 70 acres. In the 1980s, they worked with UC Davis and famed vintner Tony Soter, researching the terroir and dividing the property into seven unique vineyard blocks. They then subdivided those blocks and chose their clones, rootstock, and planting density based on what would thrive on each plot. 

This replanting coincided with a movement toward site-specific wines in Napa, and Vine Hill Ranch became a prized site, supplying grapes to Araujo, TOR (which makes a vineyard-designate bottling), Lail, Robert Mondavi, and other Cabernet icons. Just over a decade ago, Vine Hill Ranch started producing their own wine. And with longtime Araujo winemaker Peschon at the helm, the results have been spectacular.