Vine Hill Ranch is a truly iconic Cabernet: a modern cult wine, an estate-grown wine with a real sense of place, the culmination of the Phillips family’s evolution from grapegrowing to winemaking over three generations. They’ve earned a real understanding of terroir through years of traversing the vineyard rows and tending the seven blocks by hand.

Winemaker Françoise Peschon’s approach to winemaking is to proceed with a minimal, gentle touch. Harvested in late September at optimal ripeness, grapes are hand-sorted, cold-soaked, and fermented by native yeast by vineyard lot. Following extended maceration, the wine ages in new French oak for eight months before it is blended and returned to barrel for one year prior to release.

Strikingly perfumed, intense yet lifted, it showcases the elegance, balance, and maturity of fruit from this unique benchland vineyard in southwestern Oakville. Lifted by a vein of minerality and bright acidity, the opulent palate imparts a complexity and lasting purity through a remarkably long finish.

“Great concentration is the hallmark of this structured, dark, and age worthy estate-grown wine from a vineyard long sought after by other producers. From a dense aroma of tightly packed fruit, oak, and espresso it moves to powerful dark chocolate, dried black cherry and dark mineral flavors wrapped in burly tannins. Best 2027-2040. Cellar Selection.”
97 points, Jim Gordon, Wine Enthusiast, August 2023

“The 2020 Vine Hill Ranch VHR Cabernet Sauvignon has a deep purple-black color. It springs from the glass with bright, vivacious red and black cherry notes, followed by a classic cassis, wild sage, and cedar-scented core, with hints of roses, cardamom, and menthol. The medium to full-bodied palate shimmers with energy and vivacious red and black berry layers, supported by fine-grained tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long with loads of floral and mineral sparks.”
95+ points, Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Independent, May 2023

“The 2020 VHR achieves a dramatic balance of opulence and structure. Leading with plump dark fruit, fragrant brown spices, capsicum and bay laurel. Full-bodied with satiny black fruit framed by firm, present tannins that build on the finish. There’s a suede-like swagger about this one, downright muscular and deserving of a good decanting—a nice showing for the vintage. Harvested from Blocks 1, 3, 4, and 6, and all before September 25. Vine Hill Ranch in Oakville is owned by the Philips family, who have been growers since 1959 and is a source for such producers as Harlan’s BOND Estate, TOR Wines, Dadlla Valle’s DVO, and Colgin, among other esteemed Napa producers. The vineyard manager is Mike Wolf, and winemaker Françoise Peschon produces the VHR wine.”
95 points, Jonathan Cristaldi, Decanter, September 2023