VHR, Farming Napa Valley History, Wine Spectator

Congratulations Bob Phillips, (aka Daddy) for well-deserved accolades in this month's Wine Spectator! "In the 1960's, Bob Phillips, now 89, transformed the Vine Hill Ranch, where fruit orchards and hay fields once stood, into one of the most sought after vineyards in Napa Valley for Cabernet Sauvignon. Bruce Cakebread, who has bought grapes from Vine Hill Ranch since 1981, says of Phillips, "He's really dedicated to his vineyard. We've gone through replants and phylloxera together, and he'll go to the Nth degree to grow the best grapes". The 70-acre vineyard, nestled between Harlan Estate and Dominus in the southwestern corner of Oakville, undulates from the benchlands to the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains, with seven different blocks all dedicated to Cabernet. It's in Phillips' modest nature to have chosen farming over winemaking, and he's sold grapes to some of Napa's finest producers, including Cakebread, Etude, Lail and Bond. One of the first to source his vineyard was Andre Tchelistcheff for his Georges de Latour bottlings at Beaulieu Vineyards." A true inspiration. XOXO Kat