May 2, 2024 - Three hour decant. Very deep dark magenta color. Blackberry, boysenberry, bitter chocolate, slate, and Rice Krispies. Dry, satiny, full bodied palate. Firm, full tannins on the long finish.
Youth is the only flaw here. This has terrific structure and mouthfeel. The fruit is intense and voluptuous. My notes don’t do this justice.
April 25, 2024 - Incredible wine. 4 hour decant. Bright fruited, lots of red cherry, concrete, little tobacco, baking spices, graphite and rock dust. Vivacious, boisterous and appealing. Only downside was it kinda felt hot/burning at the finish. It’s rare I ever get that cause I love big Napa wines. I’d love to get more and age them a bit.
Tasted with VHR ‘14 which was loved more by wife and I. More age and better development must have helped.
Gotta try Kep’s OVR next. Cheers
April 16, 2024 - Brought to VHR winery by MN so we could observe a side by side treatment of the same (relatively same, at least, both in terms of blocks and different vintage) grapes. I had this 2 years ago at Keplinger’s tasting room in Napa, and bought a bottle, and while I don’t recall DJ’s aeration ablutions, it was, for my palate, completely unready to drink, although highly promising. MN opened and slow ox’d this 6 hours before we got to the winery, and to say this needed that, and probably could have used 4x that, would be an understatement. Still, this wine has gone from potential greatness to being near the doorstep of it, as the black currants, plums and dark berries are far more apparent, joining very dark earth, spice, dark florals and rocky minerality in a wine that almost has an LPV tang at present. I’m not nearly as vintage wise as most of my CT friends, so I won’t be teaching any master classes on ‘19 vs. Bruce’s ‘21, but if I had both bottles within reach, I’d pop the cork on Bruce’s wine waaaay before this, as that wine’s wonderful silkiness currently contrasts favorably with the quality, even if much diminished in the past 2 years, of picking sharp objects out of your teeth and so much chewiness you may be checking to see if you’ve exceeded the FDA daily fiber requirement. Still, this reinforces my earlier thought that this will be an absolute banger, and, again, comparing the 2 bottles, at a solidly lower winery price, a very justifiable choice for wine spend dollars if just one bottle is possible. This could ultimately be the better wine of the 2, full stop, but it isn’t for me yet. 96 on this today with 98-99+ potential, so 97 seems a fair compromise. Huge thanks to MN here, as everywhere else, for his generosity.
April 12, 2024 - Splash decant. Deep dark intense magenta color. Powdered boysenberry, black plum, river rock, violet, and brown spice. Very dry, gritty palate, with nice, pixelated acidity. Satiny tannins on the longish finish.
This was on of the surprise highlights from my recent trip to Napa. Score might be even higher with a legit decant.
October 25, 2023 - TXRDW/Lucio's Houston.
Rob was a very generous host and brought some incredible wines to the table from the 2019 vintage. All wines sourced from Vine Hill Ranch.
VHR
Keplinger
Arrow & Branch
Memento Mori
Helen Keplinger's wine is beautiful. Of the wines at the table this was my favorite to drink right now. A friend described this as having elegant power. Fresh, without being overdone, tons of depth with enough acidity to keep things in balance. I totally agree with these notes that never made it onto CT. So I'll write them here!
98+
Drink or hold
October 25, 2023 - We had a 2019 VHR horizontal tasting last night at Lucio’s in Houston, with Arrow & Branch, Keplinger, Memento Mori and of course VHR. CT’r MJP was in attendance, our resident VHR expert, who has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to anything VHR. What a lineup and what a night!
Keplinger showed exceptionally well, with incredible complexity and artistry that resulted in a fantastic interpretation of how a VHR grape can evolve into a magical wine. Helen’s VHR offering continued to evolve throughout the night, with amazing structure and distinctive dark fruit notes that added a uniqueness to the wine, which came from blocks 3A & 6A. If you’ve never tried a Keplinger wine, the 2019 VHR should be added to your “Must Have” list.
The consensus takeaway of the night was the pleasant approachability of the 2019 vintage, combined with the exceptional and consistent quality of the fruit. Simply put, the 2019 vintage is a tremendously good vintage for Napa. If you have more than a few bottles of any of these great VHR wines I would not hesitate to pop the cork as all four wines were a joy to taste among friends.
April 14, 2023 - Opened the 2019 Keplinger VHR along with a 2013 Shafer HSS and a 2014 Pride Reserve Claret. All three wines showed great but the VHR was definitely the WOTN. Very understated and refined compared to other versions of VHR, Helen’s winemaking and interpretation of this fruit resulted in an incredibly well structured wine that should be epic in 5-10 years. This was my third tasting of this wine since July and it is rapidly evolving in such a short period of time to where it already is drinking well. If you have enough bottles to hedge by opening one early you won’t be disappointed.
April 7, 2023 - A few days in Napa with fellow CT'r Cristal2000: I’ve ripped through a number of versions of VHR from most of those producing wine from this site and have found them to vary quite a bit depending much upon what I believe to be the winemaker’s select style. Of course, certain plots influence the overall effect of the ultimate manifestation of the wine produced, but it’s clear to me that there are notable differences between various producers’ interpretations of the fruit coming from VHR. In this case, the VHR is not surprisingly a more dialed back version, with tight, unripe cherry and plum skin notes marking a linear execution of flavor, but (as usual) a hyper clean and pure expression. Fantastic momentum and persistence, with just a hint of booze rising up on the finish, this wine is for the cellar. A decade from now, I’d be happy to pop the cork on this a see what’s doin’. Superb potential with this VHR.
Just to note, if you’re used to more flamboyant and powerful versions of this site, Keplinger may be a bit of a left turn for you. Just fair warning for those who expect to be wooed by more deltoid-driven versions of VHR. This is more about class and chiseled focus than it is about meaty opulence.
November 12, 2022 - Wine & Wagyu 4. DJ was kind enough to bring a bottle to taste in advance of the spring release.
Approachability falling right in the middle of 19 RBK & OVR. Classic VHRV fruit picked from 3A & 6A2.
Helen's Cabernets from 19 are some of my personal favorites of hers to date. A perfect balance of fruit, tannic structure and acids to go the distance. I'll be looking to pull these starting around 2030 and drink over the next 20 plus.
80 Cases
98+