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Philip Togni has packed more into his 90+ years than most could hope for in two lifetimes. English by birth, after a stint in the British Army, he completed a degree in Geology from the Imperial College in London, after which he ventured into life as an oil man. A few years in the resource extraction game left him cold, so he retooled and went to Bordeaux for three years, a decision that would set him on a path to make some of the most highly-regard Cabernet Sauvignon in California’s star-studded firmament.
“I was lucky in Bordeaux,” Togni told us. “I worked with Alexis Lichine of Château Lascombes while studying the Diplôme National d’Oenologie at the University of Bordeaux.” Luckier still, it was the programme's first year, so he was one of just five students (his diploma’s serial number is 2) studying under the famed oenological pioneer Émile Peynaud. The two would remain friends, bonding over sport and a mutual reverence for Bordeaux’s great wines, particularly those of Lichine. After graduating, Togni travelled to Chile to produce what he considered “excellent Cabernet”, which unfortunately wasn’t capturing the attention of the local or export markets. So, following advice from another friend and mentor, Professor Maynard Amarine of UC Davis, he placed a “job wanted” ad in the Wine Institute Bulletin. The sole response was too good to pass up, and Togni packed his bags and moved to the steep, rugged, isolated slopes of Mount Veeder to work at Mayacamas.
From 1959, he worked at several estates in the Napa Valley, including Chalone, Inglenook and Cuvaison. But it was his standard-setting, gauntlet-throwing work at Chappellet from 1968 to 1973 that set his history-making trajectory. The now legendary 1969 Chappellet Cabernet―recently reviewed and awarded 100 points by The Wine Advocate―cemented Chappellet’s place among the Napa elite and lit the fuse on Togni’s winemaking career. “If you ever get a chance to taste the 1969 Chappellet, don’t worry about the cost,” Philip told us. “It’s one of the greatest red wines ever made.”
In 1975, Togni and his wife Birgitta purchased their eponymous estate, and by 1983, they had planted some vines and set out on their own. It was another Bordeaux legend, Paul Pontallier of Château Margaux, who influenced Togni’s plantings. During a visit, Philip enquired about the makeup of First Growth’s vineyard. “What we do at Château Margaux is 82% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Merlot, with a bit of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, but no Malbec,” his friend told him. “Mind if we do the same?” was Togni’s response. And that remains the varietal mix to this day.
Located west of St. Helena on the eastern slope of the Mayacamas Range, Spring Mountain AVA is Napa Valley’s coolest and wettest region. “It’s a rather extreme location,” says Togni. Perched high (600 metres) above the fog line on the mountain itself, just 40 kilometres from San Pablo Bay and 50 kilometres from the Pacific, Togni’s 10 hectares of vines face east and enjoy the warm morning sun with limited exposure to the harsh afternoon rays. Large oak trees and Douglas Firs surround the property, providing shelter and a sense of isolation not often found in Napa. The slopes are steep, the plantings terraced, and the soils rocky with weathered sandstone and shale. Farming is organic and highly involved. “We spend 75% of our time in the vines,” Togni explains. The 33-year-old vines are dry-farmed, and the winery—like Philip’s house on the property—is solar-powered.
After years spent working abroad in Australia, Bordeaux and Burgundy, Togni’s daughter Lisa returned to work with her father in 2000. Spending a couple of decades at her father’s side, she’s now as much in tune with the site and the wines as he is. “So much of my experience has been working day to day in the cellar with my dad,” she explained. “It’s just us, a couple of staff and the same team of pickers at harvest we’ve worked with for 20 years.” This seamless, endless passing of the baton has lent admirable consistency to the quality and style. And though he’s now well into his ninth decade, with over 70 vintages under his belt, you can’t keep Philip Togni out of the vines and the cellar.
The style of the ‘Grand Vin’ hinges on elegance, refined structure and ageability. As Antoni Galloni notes, “Philip, Birgitta and Lisa Togni continue to make classy, elegant Cabernet Sauvignons in a super-classic style that rewards aging. These remain some of the most distinctive wines being made in Napa Valley.” From the outset, Togni’s preference has been to make wines in the mould of Saint-Estèphe. Togni's model, as he frequently points out, is Chateau Calon-Segur, the late-blooming Saint-Estephe third growth sometimes overlooked because of its unsociable ways in youth, but one with a track record for aging beautifully.
To achieve this aim, yields are kept low, and canopies are managed diligently to ensure full ripeness is reached at low alcohols. They pick early to preserve natural freshness, and the grapes are co-fermented to reinforce and heighten the expression of the site. The Tognis are fussy about their oak, having travelled to France to select their forests and coopers. They favour thicker staves, use barrels only twice and rarely deviate from their 40% new-oak sweet spot. The 48mm premium corks “cost a fortune”, but no corner is cut here, and high-quality, non-permeable cork is a critical component of the wines’ longevity.
The Napa of today is a world away from the sleepy farming valley that first greeted Philip Togni in 1959. Yet time has stood relatively still for over 40 years at this iconic estate on Spring Mountain. Same vines, same slopes, same varieties, same family, same thrilling wines: benchmark mountain Cabernets. Lisa summed it up best: “It’s a beautiful piece of land. We have a connection and a continuity here. We’re just trying to show this one site in our wines; it’s really that simple.”