Download as a PDF - Wine Country This Week

WINERY FEATURE| WINE COUNTRY THIS WEEKPhilippe LangnerMary Steinbacher Photography22Open daily fro 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.1001 Silverado Trail SouthSt. Helena, CA 94574(707) 963-7000www.hillwinecompany.comBrian BrakesmanHILL WINE COMPANYTwo Winemakers, One Goal:Great Grapes into Great, Affordable WinesBY JOSH STEINSt. Helena’s Hill Wine Company has a very simple operating philosophy:bring the best to bear to produce great wines. Jeff Hill’s obsession withgrowing great grapes for others via the Jeff Hill Vineyard Group led to hisown winery, created with wife Rebecca, and their goal of providing highquality “green” Napa wines at a great price. Everything produced is fromsustainably farmed or organic grapes and comes in certified organic andrecycled packaging. Hill Wine Company donates 2% of its proceeds to theASPCA and is also a proud member of 1% for the Planet in which 1% oftheir total revenue is donated to environmental causes.To help bring his vision of affordable and sustainable Napa wines to life,Jeff brought in two industry veterans, Philippe Langner and BrianBrakesman, and the combination of their different yet very similarperspectives on non-intervention have led to much success. Director ofWinemaking Langner was trained at his family’s French estate and at UCDavis before spending time at Chateaux Lafite Rothschild under famedinternational winemakers Jacques Boissenot and Michel Rolland. Theseexperiences led to his seven years at Napa’s Sullivan Vineyards, where JeffHill stole him away in 2008. Philippe’s philsophy is perfectly in accordwith the winery’s: “Get the best fruit and intervene as little as possibleduring winemaking to let the fruit speak for itself.” Doing so requires thekinds of experiences he has had with the finest of Bordeaux grapes,especially knowing what not to do so the flavors shine through.Where Langner brings European influences to the table, EstateWinemaker Brakesman is a Napa native, having been born and raised at hiswww.WineCountryThisWeek.com