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Tor "Vine Hill Ranch" Cabernet Sauvignon 2017
(Oakville, Napa Valley, California) - [JD 95-97] [WA 96+] [VM 94-97]
Regular price $235.00 Sale price $224.97 Save $10.03
About this Wine
This is everyone’s Cabernet Sauvignon of the vintage, and a wine that may well go down in Napa Valley legend. Our first Vine Hill Ranch designate Cabernet Sauvignon, from the gravelliest soils in that great vineyard, in a typically red-fruited vintage this is all black fruit. Blackberry, boysenberry and black cherry layered with dark chocolate, briar, exotic spices and potpourri. Has the power and richness of the best Napa Cabernet with more of a classical First Growth structure. Jeff considers this perhaps the most complex and complete Cabernet Sauvignons he has ever made.
About the Vineyard:
This vineyard is part of Tor’s 40-year history in the Napa Valley. He knew its early stewards, Bob and Alex Phillips, who bought the vineyard in 1959 and made it one of Napa Valley’s stars in the 80s and 90s. The vineyard was first planted in 1884 and is a perfect site for Bordeaux varietals. We now work with their son, Bruce Phillips, in Block 7, where we have an acre of old vine Cabernet Sauvignon and 3D, just beneath the Bond Vecina block, with just over an acre of Cabernet Sauvignon and just under an acre of Petit Verdot. Always curious, we love to co-ferment the Cabernet and Petit Verdot from this great site. In some years, “Black Magic” has been shaped in this vineyard.
This is everyone’s Cabernet Sauvignon of the vintage, and a wine that may well go down in Napa Valley legend. Our first Vine Hill Ranch designate Cabernet Sauvignon, from the gravelliest soils in that great vineyard, in a typically red-fruited vintage this is all black fruit. Blackberry, boysenberry and black cherry layered with dark chocolate, briar, exotic spices and potpourri. Has the power and richness of the best Napa Cabernet with more of a classical First Growth structure. Jeff considers this perhaps the most complex and complete Cabernet Sauvignons he has ever made.
About the Vineyard:
This vineyard is part of Tor’s 40-year history in the Napa Valley. He knew its early stewards, Bob and Alex Phillips, who bought the vineyard in 1959 and made it one of Napa Valley’s stars in the 80s and 90s. The vineyard was first planted in 1884 and is a perfect site for Bordeaux varietals. We now work with their son, Bruce Phillips, in Block 7, where we have an acre of old vine Cabernet Sauvignon and 3D, just beneath the Bond Vecina block, with just over an acre of Cabernet Sauvignon and just under an acre of Petit Verdot. Always curious, we love to co-ferment the Cabernet and Petit Verdot from this great site. In some years, “Black Magic” has been shaped in this vineyard.
Ratings & Reviews
"A wine that wasn’t made in 2016 (everything went into the top cuvée), the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Vine Hill Ranch is one of the more classic, almost Bordeaux-like reds in the lineup. Offering loads of cassic, currants, tobacco, and cedary herbs, this beauty hits the palate with beautiful fruit, a layered, ripe texture, sweet tannins, and a great, great finish. This cuvée comes from a plot of very old vines and is a rock star of a barrel sample." (1/31/2019)
96 Points - Jeb Dunnuck:
Also beautiful, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Vine Hill Ranch Oakville has a rocking level of minerality as well as powerful notes of blackcurrants, plums, dark chocolate, crushed rocks, and toasted spice. Screaming Cabernet Sauvignon both on the nose and palate, it's full-bodied, rounded, and voluptuous, with beautiful fruit, a rich, mineral-laced, powerful style, and a great finish. Unfortunately, there are only eight barrels produced. 2022 - 2045
96+ Points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate:
"This comes from the most gravelly block in Vine Hill Ranch, Block 7, planted to twenty-year-old vines. The wine sees "classic TOR winemaking" - about three weeks on skins during and post-fermentation. It was matured in a mix of Taransaud and Darnajou small French oak barrels for twenty months, then bottled without fining or filtration. Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Vine Hill Ranch comes bounding out of the glass with exuberant black cherries, mulberries and boysenberries notes plus suggestions of pencil shavings, cigar box and cardamom. Medium to full bodied, the palate has an exhilarating, fantastically fine-grained texture, with seamless freshness and bags of black fruit flavors, finishing with a lively herbal lift. 202 cases were made." - Lisa Perrotti-Brown (31st Oct 2019)
94-97 Points - Vinous Media:
"The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Vine Hill Ranch Vineyard is shaping up to be a real stunner. Powerful, deep and explosive, the 2017 captures all the elements that make Vine Hill Ranch so special. Super-ripe black cherry, leather, smoke, tobacco incense and savory herb notes build into the huge, structured finish. " - Antonio Galloni (Dec 2018)