USA
California

So-called 'Mission' vines were brought to California by Spanish monks to make sacramental wine around 1769 and the first commercial wine production was recorded in 1824. The Californian Gold Rush in 1849 led to a wine boom, with vine plantings in the Sierra foothills. Hungarian Agaston Haraszthy introduced European grape varieties to California in 1851 with considerable success. Disaster struck in 1870 when Phylloxera (endemic in Eastern USA) reached California and the Napa, Sonoma and Sacramento areas were badly hit. The industry had barely recovered when Prohibition (1920-1933) disallowed production of wines for any but medicinal or sacramental purposes (although there was a boom in "grape juice" for use at home!). The last decades have seen tremendous growth in the production of quality Californian wine

R H Phillips Winery - Dunnigan Hills

R H Phillips is the largest grape grower and only winery in the Dunnigan Hills Viticultural region. Northern Yolo County is in the eastern foothills of the Coast Range mountains. As recently as 1980, John and Karl Giguiere planted their first vines on arable, family-owned land in the Dunnigan Hills. They were primarily pulse farmers and the winery was built with the sole intention of showcasing the fruit from the vineyards. However, the winery prospered from the moment the first vintage of Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc was introduced to the market and has continued to develop in terms of quality and volume. Agricultural heritage combined with Californian innovation has built a reputation for producing very high quality wines.

Wines with the Barrel Cuvée label are picked in the cool of the night to retain the vibrant, fresh fruit characters. The warm climate ensures ripe flavours; cool nights retain the freshness needed to balance the richness and subsequent barrel ageing gives vanilla spice and structure.

Wines with the Toasted Head label are full-bodied, deeply coloured and oaky - barrel-fermented in both French and American oak from various forests to enhance the development of more complex wine aromas and flavours. Once fermentation was complete, the Chardonnay was aged sur lie with stirring (batonnage) every 2 weeks for the first 6 months. The best barrel lots were then selected for the final blend. Late winter weather in 1998 meant a slow start to the growing season and slow maturing of the fruit in moderate fall (autumn) temperatures.

EXP (Explorature) label is used for the Mediterranean varietals, Syrah and Viognier. Grapes grown in the cooler regions of the hills ripen slowly, developing intense and complex flavours without losing essential acidity. 50% of the harvest is barrel-fermented in French oak - given a long cool fermentation to evolve aromatic complexity, followed by ageing "sur lie" and batonnage