TN: 2013 VHR (Vine Hill Ranch) Cab

Time flies. I had not been to VHR in almost two years. Stopped by last week and spent some time with Bruce Phillips and Francoise Peschon, their winemaker. We shot the breeze about winemaking and vineyard management. It had been raining a lot so did not have a chance to walk the vineyard. I had their soon to be released 2013 and thought I would throw a note up…

2013 VHR Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
Not yet released. 100% Cab. Very dark purple color. Full-bodied and a little brawnier than previous vintages. Medium acid. Powerful aromas of graphite and black cherry totally dominate the nose. This had already been in decanter and hour when I tried it. In a very primary stage, but has good structure and density that makes me think this will unfold over a decade really nicely. More masculine than the 2012. Dense, but smooth tannins. Obviously will get better with aging. Might wait 3-5 years to let it smooth out and my guess is it will peak out in 10-12 years. As good a Cab as they have made, yet. I’ve had so many excellent 2013s and this ranks in the upper reaches of this vintage.
96pts

Thanks Roy! Timely with release coming in a couple weeks.

Same tier as ? ? ?

Loved this as a barrel sample a few years ago. Thought it was a rockstar. Just awesome.

I am perplexed by the shipping costs of VHR. I can get it locally for list price or buy from winery for $220 a bottle all in. I always wanna support the owner/winemaker in these instances but saving $30-40 a bottle by buying local trumps that.

Agree. They ship everything 2nd day and in wood boxes. Nice box but I don’t need one every release. Wish it was optional.

Wish I could have taken my whole allocation, but with all the other recent purchases, thought it wise to leave some on the table this morning.

John’s point was very well made, since shipping to SoCal for 3 bottles was $41!

I’d love for my AMEX to cycle on the 13th, hope they don’t SO.

$78 to Dallas for 3 bottles and the wood box…I sent a note in the order asking them to consider an option without the box in the future…we will see where that goes…Bruce does a great job with the VHR brand presentation whether it’s the labels, packaging, correspondence, etc…but this is getting a bit silly

AMEX cycled and I bought. $200/btl shipped.

Had the 12, 13 and 14 (PNV) VHR this weekend and was VERY impressed. I was not a big fan of the first few vintages for some reason however was totally blown away by these. A little more power and a little more to the dark side of fruit. Roy’s notes are spot on with brawnier density and very smooth tannins. A pure fruit expression in an amazing package. Finished foreverrrrr. Awesome.

Let me start by saying that I think VHR is fantastic wine. Amazing vineyard and incredibly well made. However, when I saw the mailing list price, which I think was around $200/bottle, and the only shipping option was 2 day shipping for close to $78 (shipped in the OWC), I realized that put the per bottle price at just about $225 with no tax. I can see listings now online for about $185/bottle. I know this dovetails with two other threads:

-The buy from winery or at retail
-Is cost of wine + OWC + 2 day shipping to much

I will buy VHR, but I have to say that I feel good about my decision not to pay the all in price of $225 and instead save about $40/bottle.

I don’t think people are doing their math properly. Looking at 2012/2013… cost per bottle direct is $185. Looking on W-S pro, the 2012 is available from only one place I’d trust for $179, and a few places at $189. So there is no bargain to be had going the W-S route, unlike with other Napa wineries, where I routinely see the same wines for $50 less per bottle from huge retailers like Zachy’s (for example, Staglin 2012). If you want to complain about the 10-odd dollars per bottle extra shipping cost, then you can, but to me that’s worth it for buying direct at this price point.