I have to begin by saying Bruce Phillips might be the nicest guy in Napa Valley. My wife and I spent some time with him at the vineyard farmhouse this week learning about the history of the property and sharing a bottle of the 2012 VHR Cabernet.
Grapes have been grown at VHR since the late 1800s. The vineyard is located on the southern and western edges of the Oakville AVA and nestled right up to the base of the Mayacamas range. It covers around 70 acres, almost all planted to Cabernet Sauvignon. The Phillips family has owned the property since 1959 and until very recently sold all of the fruit to others including Cakebread, Étude and Bond. The Vecina label from Bond comes from one block at VHR.
The family decided to make a small amount under their own label starting with the 2008 vintage. They have 7 blocks of vines and generally use fruit from 3-4 of them for the VHR label. Block 1 has been replanted recently and it will be a few years before it can be included. This will be an exciting addition if it occurs as this is a knoll with multiple exposures that was the Bond Vecina source for many years. Production has grown a little to the point where the 2012 vintage yielded around 600 cases, still very small of course. My understanding is they do not plan to grow much larger in the future. Bruce enjoys the relationships with VHR direct clients and their retail and restaurant partners and growing much larger would make it difficult to maintain that level of intimacy.
Bruce guided us through some of the historical documents of the property like county agriculture audits from the very early days in the late 1800s. What a treasure to have and share! A facsimile of one of these documents is the background of the VHR wine label, which also includes farming information for each of the blocks included in the wine (yield info and harvest dates). One of the classier yet informative labels in Napa in my opinion.
The 2012 VHR is a real beauty, a full bodied yet feminine expression of Oakville cabernet. No hard edges at all, very seamless. Great aromatics showing already. I mentioned my affinity of this level of elegance and Bruce smiled and said that was their goal and one of the reasons they partnered with Francoise Peschon to craft the wine. They felt she would allow the terroir to shine and not impose any obvious signature.
Great things happening here with a humble, dedicated farming family running the show. I look forward to seeing how things develop in the future. I should note Bruce lost his father/mentor late last year and his mother in the last several weeks. Very sad time for the family. He was super generous with his time given what all they must be tasked with transitioning the family business for the future.