Meet Bill Hill, mountain man

Wines & Vines, Oct, 1992 by Richard Paul Hinkle

I went to law school in the early '70s, when everybody was going to law school. The crush bothered me until my father reminded me, "No matter how many lawyers they graduate, there will always be room at the top of the hill for the good ones."

Behind flashing blue eyes and silver-blond hair, the bespectacled Bill Hill is a guy who loves nothing better than assessing a piece of raw land -- particularly when it's near the top of a hill -- for grape vines. If it were up to him, he'd follow the old landowner's maxim: Never sell.

"Well, it hasn't always worked out that way," he says with a rueful laugh. "We developed Diamond Mountain, but the partnership forced its sale to Sterling. We had to sell Veeder Hills to Donald Hess |The Hess Collection~ when a split within that partnership went beyond my control. And we had to sell Foss Valley to the Antinori-Bollinger group |now called Atlas Peak Vineyard~ when Bank of America pulled the plug on us."

Bill Hill is not just any kind of vineyard guy. He's mountain vineyard kind of guy. He has long been convinced that mountain-grown fruit makes the most concentrated, the most long-lived, and the highest quality wines. Even his Navy blue Laredo Jeep proclaims his conviction, with a license plate that reads "MTN VYND."

If Bill bemoans the loss of some of his favorite mountain jewels -- and each one he's lost has produced spectacular wines by anyone's definition -- he hasn't let it slow him down one whit. He's busily acquiring land and planning to plant. In the Carneros. In Sonoma County. In Mendocino's Anderson Valley. And even in Oregon!

"We began looking in other areas for a couple of reasons," says Hill, warming rapidly to his favorite subject. "First, the great vineyards of the Napa Valley were being rapidly absorbed by the mid-'80s. They became very scarce and very expensive. Second, I began to develop an interest in making wine from some other varieties. As you know, thus far we've focused entirely on Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay from hillside vineyards.

"The other noble varieties -- Pinot noir and Whit Riesling -- generally have not performed well in California. They've improved here in recent years, but have still fallen short of their European counterparts made in the great years. In assessing vineyards from Santa Barbara to Washington State, we found the 'stuff' of great wines in Oregon."

Hill suggests strongly that latitude has a greater part to play in grape quality than he had previously considered. "Sauvignon blanc, for example, doesn't seem to show vineyard differences all that much, but Pinot noir and White Riesling are extremely differentiated by where they're grown. Pinot noir in Santa Barbara has concentrated, intense flavors, but they lack a certain elegance, and particularly that long, focused finish that you get in Burgundy or Oregon in the good years. In California, Pinot noir has a Zinfandel-like fruit, but Oregon Pinot has a subtle blackberry quality that carries all the way through to the finish."

While most vineyard climate assessments have looked to heat buildup from bud break to harvest, Hill says that it's really the last six to eight weeks before harvest when climate is really important to wine quality. "Look, the last day before harvest is the most important day of the year. The next most important day is the second to last day before harvest, and each day you go back its importance declines.

"Let me give you an example. In July, the Carneros, which has a maritime climate, is cooler than Burgundy or Oregon. But in September, Carneros remains the same while Burgundy and Oregon are substantially cooler. I have to wear a jacket in Oregon, all day long!"

While Hill likes many of the Oregon Pinot noirs he's tasted ("beautiful balance"), he feels that concentration and finish are often lacking due to overly heavy soils. "Most of the Pinot noir is grown on heavy, clay soils, like our Aiken soils. But those soils retain too much water. The parcels we bought in Oregon are northwest of Salem in the Eola Hills. We're on an island ridge that has very austere soils. And the Van Duzer corridor brings cool air directly in from the Pacific Ocean. In fact, our Oregon wines are bottled under the Van Duzer label.

"But even where you have clay, you can improve the drainage with the application of lime, 20 tons per acre, rather than four or five. You see, clay particles are electrically charged, so that they cling to water. But when you apply lime freely, that charge is lost, and the water becomes free to drain."

Two years ago, Hill brought out his first Oregon wine, a Dry White Riesling 1989 under the William Hill label. It is a lovely example of dry Riesling, with steely apricot smells. In the mouth, it's taut with apricot skin fruit and a crisp, flinty finish. The first Pinot noir, from the same vintage, under the Van Duzer label, has ripe black cherry fruit, with mushroom and potato nuances, and a chewy, somewhat grainy finish.

The whole of Hill's outlook is to create a portfolio of great wine estates, each with its own winery, each with its own varietal wines that are specific to each estate vineyard. The Carneros Hills property began development in 1987. "We've only put Chardonnay there, and I think that was wise," says Hill. "It's just south of Bouchaine, and it's a little island of gravel soil that has excellent drainage. I believe it's the largest contiguous block of Chardonnay in the Carneros, over 300 acres."