VHR, Napa Valley, 2021

2021 VHR is the Philips family’s most noble, wise and perfect wine to date, the high-watermark in a glittering series of releases from this most storied of Napa Vineyards. Widely considered one of the greatest sites in the valley, this west facing benchland site in southern Oakville plays host to a range of top single vineyard designate bottlings produced by a select few customers who are granted access to the Philips Family’s fabulous fruit. Most are given a single block, at most two, whereas the family VHR blend is composed from across the site, with a blend selected each year to best represent the greatest aspects of this exceptional site. Four blocks feature in 2021, two from the hilliest sections, those closest to the forest, and two from lower down the slopes. The resulting wine is an exceptional example of what makes modern Napa so compelling. Harking back to the elegance found in the wines of the early nineties, with greater precision, depth, and focus, this is a wine that will age with grace and panache, offering pleasure at every point of their elongated drinking window. Darkly mineral, and crisp with cool dark berries, its aromas are interspersed with notes of rosemary, violets, mountain bay and rock salt. And while it seems strange to say it, you an almost smell the tension before it hits your palate. Whip smart, precision tooled, and yes taut, it’s nevertheless sleek, suave and impeccably integrated; the dark fruit is seamlessly melded to the commanding tannic network giving the wine a sense of effortless power. Minerals swirl, touches of the forest offer up both base notes and aromatic highlights, leading to a finish that extends effortlessly into the distance. Noble, vertical, impeccable. Very much a wine of distinction. Great Napa like this speaks in whispers yet commands the attention like almost nothing else.