From the vine to the bottle, the winegrowing and winemaking at Vine Cliff Winery comes under the watchful and caring eye of Robert Sweeney. He assumed vineyard management and winemaking responsibilities at the Sweeney Family winery in 1990 and came prepared with a kind of intimacy with the land that few could match. His style is one of hands-on care rather than just vineyard management techniques.
From 1985 to 1990, he learnt the wine trade by working for others but every weekend and holiday, he spent getting to know every inch of Vine Cliff land and even bedded down on a night or two in the foundation of the ghost winery. He came to recognize the animals and birds that inhabited the mountainside.
Rob Sweeney's inclination to engage in ecologically correct farming practices were borne out of genuine awareness and concern for the land. He implemented programs for vertical shoot positioning and lateral removal and introduced natural pest control methods by surveying the indigenous pests. ‘We placed perches throughout the vineyards to invite the hawks and owls, natural local predators, to forage. We constructed two bird houses to accommodate Kestrals.'
Rob has planted 1,364 vines of Cabernet Sauvignon to the acre at Vine Cliff. Vine configuration (vertical trellises) and clonal selections that are low in vegetative growth and low yielding were helped, along with terroir, gave the Vine Cliff Cabernet Sauvignon powerful fruit flavor and low tannins. This hands-on approach has created some of the Valley's most elegant wines with intense fruit flavor and a softness that makes the Cabernet Sauvignon approachable on release, but yet will develop complexity with bottle age.
New vineyards in Calistoga and in Carneros will provide Rob Sweeney with the challenge of achieving the same quality in the Chardonnay and Merlot (Carneros), and the Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc (Calistoga) grapes as those from the Vine Cliff estate. He will no doubt meet the challenge head on.
Rob Sweeney has been involved in the making of every vintage and varietal under the Vine Cliff label. As Proprietor, he heads a winemaking team, which includes Winemaker Rex Smith with Celia Welch Masyczek consulting, with a devotion to excellence that has been the hallmark of Vine Cliff wines since the Sweeney Family took over.
Rex William Smith
Winemaker
Rex Smith was born and raised on a farm in New Zealand where he first became interested in horticulture at a young age. He attended Massey University in New Zealand and earned a Bachelor of Horticultural Science degree in 1984 majoring in Viticulture and Oenology. After graduating Rex traveled to the Napa Valley to gain hands on winemaking experience and worked for Saintsbury Winery for four vintages. Here he found his passion for grape growing, wine and the winemaking process and decided to alternate vintages between Napa and the Barossa Valley in South Australia to gain experience and knowledge faster. Rex graduated from Roseworthy Agricultural College, Australia in 1989 with a Graduate Diploma in Wine before moving to Napa permanently.
In 1990 Rex became the Enologist at The Hess Collection Winery. His main role was to develop and implement an extensive analytical and microbiological quality control program. After two years experience working with Mt. Veeder Cabernet and Monterey Chardonnay, Rex joined Cuvaison Winery as their assistant winemaker. During his six-year tenure at Cuvaison, he was promoted to winemaker and gained expertise making Carneros Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. In 1998 Rex became winemaker and vineyard manager at Heller Estate / Durney Vineyards in Carmel Valley where he was hired to plan and implement the development of new vineyard land and revamp their existing vineyard as well as make their mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc wines.
Rex returned to Napa in 2001 and has found his home as winemaker for Vine Cliff Winery, a small ultra-premium winery located in Oakville which specializes in hand-crafting Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay wines from their estate vineyards in Oakville, Carneros, and Calistoga.
Rex is a member of the American Society of Enology and Viticulture and the Napa Valley Wine Technical Group and in his spare time enjoys sailing, golfing and hiking.