Phillips Hill Winery – Anderson Valley, CA

The tasting room is housed in a refurbished apple drying barn and is surrounded by mature lavender bushes, bunches of daisies, and bright California poppies. Rustic picnic benches dot the property and provide the perfect place to sip Phillips Hill Winery’s excellent Anderson Valley pinot noir or just relax and soak in the idyllic setting.

There are a lot of great wineries and tasting rooms in Mendocino County, particularly if you’re fond of Anderson Valley pinot noir, but Phillips Hill has a character all its own.

When Art & Wine Collide

Toby Hill, the winemaker behind Phillips Hill Winery, spent the first half of his career as an artist whose specialty was architectural coloring and color plaster. After studying art at San Francisco’s California College of the Arts, he went on to work under acclaimed New Yorker cartoonist Sam Gross. While Toby still maintains an art studio in Ukiah, which is just north of the Phillips Hill tasting room in Philo, and creates all of the label artwork for his bottlings, it’s small-batch winemaking that takes most of his time these days.

Toby found his way into wine in a roundabout way. In 1997, while still pursuing the visual arts, rather than the art of wine, he purchased a piece of property in the “deep end” of Anderson Valley, just about two miles from Lula Cellars, which we reviewed here. Living in what was then an up-and-coming wine region, it didn’t take long for the artist to discover the artistry of winemaking.

Toby had only been living in Anderson Valley for a few years when an acquaintance, who also happened to be a winemaker, gave him a few barrels of 2002 Pinot Noir made with grapes from the Oppenlander Vineyard in Comptche. But, there was a catch: the wine was unfinished, and yet that was all it took to pique Toby’s interest and start him on his own winemaking path.

Together, with his partner, Natacha Durandet, who grew up in the Loire Valley and is a respected sommelier, the pair has expanded their offerings beyond their highly regarded pinot noirs to include chardonnay, and, occasionally, riesling and even tempranillo.   

Phillips Hill Pinot Noir

Our Phillips Hill wine tasting was dominated by pinot noir, naturally, with the exception of the 2020 Phillips Hill Chardonnay “Day Ranch” Anderson Valley, a crisp but fuller-bodied chardonnay with notes of apple, pear, apricot, and citrus.

Of the pinots we tried, two stood out: the 2019 Phillips Hill “Day Ranch” Pinot Noir and the 2016 Phillips Hill Oppenlander Vineyard Mendocino Pinot Noir. Stylistically, these wines were quite different but quality-wise, both were great. 

The Phillips Hill “Day Ranch” Pinot Noir is made with grapes sourced from the vineyard’s Hollywood block, whose Dijon 667 and 115 clones were added in 2006. The wine is restrained and elegant, and the dark fruit profile is inviting. 

The 2016 Oppenlander Vineyard Mendocino Pinot Noir, on the other hand, is a single vineyard wine with grapes sourced from self-rooted vines in Comptche. The original Oppenlander vineyard was planted over 100 years ago and replanted in 1998. Today, the property is farmed by Norman and Bill Shandel, Charles Oppenlander’s great-grandsons.

This is a complex wine with juicy red and black fruits, noticeable tannins, and a weighty but supple palate. The wine is beautiful and is drinking at its peak. 

All scores and pricing are in the image captions below.

A Word About Dijon Clones

According to Wine Enthusiast, “Dijon clones are known for smaller berries, earlier ripening, and very expressive aromatics.”

Working with different clones allows a winemaker to build layers into the wine because each clone has slightly different qualities and a distinct purpose  Dijon 115, for example, is used to build the body of the wine and create structure. Dijon 667 is known for having a highly concentrated, generous garnet color and moderate tannins, which invite cellar aging.

Like the artist he is, Toby uses these two Dijon clones in the 2019 Day Ranch Pinot Noir to compose an approachable wine with a seamless texture.

Visiting Phillips Hill Winery

The Phillips Hill Winery is created in a way that allows guests to experience the world the way an artist experiences the world. From the purposefully composed picturesque setting to the “sensory gallery” that invites visitors to engage their olfactory senses before their first sip of wine. What better way to help prime a palate than by previewing the aromas that are to come?

Add to this Natacha’s hospitality-driven approach to the tasting room experience, and you get an atmosphere that’s just as inviting as Toby’s carefully crafted wines. Phillips Hill wines remain a bit under the radar compared to some other Anderson Valley wines, but they won’t be for long.