Benchmark Napa Winery Opens State-of-the-Art Winery After Being Destroyed in 2017 Wildfires
(Napa, Calif.) May 14, 2024—Signorello Estate, one of Napa Valley’s leading monopoles, will open its state-of-the-art winery and caves to visitors June 11, 2024 as it releases the 2021 vintage wines from its dream team of Winemaker Priyanka French, Consulting Director of Winemaking Celia Welch, and Viticulturalist Steve Matthiasson.
Signorello is an esteemed Cabernet and Chardonnay producer with some of the oldest vines in the Napa Valley. In contrast, it will unveil the region’s newest, most efficient, and eco-ready winery, 100% off-the-grid, solar-powered, and built into a hillside with the highest level of futureproofing against climate change and fire challenges.
Founded in 1977 by Ray Jr. and his father, Ray Signorello Sr., Signorello Estate is that rarest of creatures, a contiguous monopole set along the cooler southeastern edges of the Napa Valley in the Vaca Mountain Range, where older plantings of Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon thrive on sloping hillsides in a diverse mélange of volcanic soils.
A producer of sublime estate-grown wines, Signorello was one of the first in the region to offer elevated food and wine pairings and underscore wine’s place at the table. After losing the original building in 2017, Ray Signorello Jr. vowed not only to rebuild but to rebuild with the highest level of fire protection and long-term sustainability in mind to leave a legacy for his two young daughters. Using his 40 years of wine business intellect to inform his decisions on what Signorello would need in the future, that vow has finally become a reality with the completion of a new winery and underground caves that are simultaneously beautifully inviting and as fireproof as they come.
NEW WINERY AND CAVE
After the original Signorello winery was destroyed in 2017, owner Ray Signorello Jr. embraced this rare opportunity to do things differently, knowing that the now-blank canvas afforded him a once-in-a-lifetime chance to create something that would last forever. After six long years of planning and building, the next phase of Signorello’s history will welcome back visitors this June as a timeless symbol of fortitude and innovation.
Working with Taylor Lombardo Architects, the new Signorello estate caves and winery feature 8,304-square-foot state-of-the-art and fire-protected winery and 11,431-square-feet of fully refrigerated, insulated, waterproof underground cave that will serve production, storage, and hospitality needs in both practical and luxurious terms, with well-appointed areas set aside for reserve tastings. The cave is the very first of its kind.
The cave will house a private wing for hospitality, featuring Ray Jr.’s personal library of the 2,000-plus bottles he has collected over the past 40 years, in addition to Signorello’s extensive inventory of library wines, including large-format bottlings ranging from 3L to 18L.
Within the cave is an entire room dedicated to producing Signorello’s barrel-fermented Chardonnay, which is independently temperature-controlled for malolactic fermentation. The winery is designed for modern, ergonomic winemaking protocols, including mechanical systems designed for energy efficiency and sustainability, separate areas for red and white wine fermentation, multi-purpose rooms, backup systems in the event of power shutdowns, and HACC controls for microbial sanitation.
The main fermentation room showcases stainless steel and concrete tanks outfitted with automatic pump-overs, insulated and equipped with full temperature control. The winery is designed for the estate vineyards, with fermenters sized not only for each vineyard block based on years of understanding the tonnage of each block, but also for further focused picks to plan for unpredictable vintages and weather conditions.
Entirely off the grid, the winery is 100% solar-powered and built into the hillside around an ethos of sustainability and carbon capture, with two wells on site providing ample water and an additional 100,000 gallons of water protection storage equipped with fire pumps.
VISITING SIGNORELLO
Signorello Estate’s by-appointment-only tours and tastings will offer an immersive experience into Signorello’s past, present, and future. Guests will begin their visit to the new winery with an electric cart tour of the estate vineyards, followed by a tour of the just-completed winery and expansive caves. Additionally, access to Ray’s personal library wine collection, including special large formats dating back to the winery’s inception, will provide a unique and immersive experience that showcases the depth and breadth of the estate’s winemaking expertise. Tastings will feature five wines, including Hope’s Chardonnay, and both current and library vintages of Signori Cabernet and Signorello’s flagship Cabernet Sauvignon, Padrone, paired with a curated cheese plate. Tastings are $175 per person, and the winery is open daily from 10am to 4pm.
THE TEAM
Signorello Estate remains under the sole ownership and leadership of Ray Signorello Jr., who continues the legacy he started with his father in the 1970s. In 2019 a superstar team was assembled to usher the winery into its next phase, beginning with the hiring of Priyanka Dhar French as Winemaker. A native of Mumbai, India, French is the first Indian national to earn her Master of Science in Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis, followed by work experience in Burgundy, Cognac, and New Zealand. Before joining Signorello, she spent five years at Dalla Valle working alongside Michel Rolland, Andy Erickson, and James Beard Award-nominated viticulturist and winemaker Steve Matthiasson, who joined the Signorello team to help French further the mandate for sustainable, regenerative farming and precision viticulture. Celia Welch joined as Consulting Director of Winemaking, bringing three decades of winemaking experience and a global perspective from working across the world’s finest wine regions.
THE ESTATE VINEYARD
A rare monopole, Signorello Estate is located along the Silverado Trail between Yountville and Napa, within the Napa AVA. Spread across 60 acres, the 30 acres of vines are predominantly planted on sloping hillsides in well-draining volcanic soils similar to those found on Pritchard Hill. The vineyards are split between the east and west sides of the property on either side of the winery, where they enjoy a diverse set of sun exposures, temperatures, and soils. This range of microclimates and conditions allows Signorello to offer nuanced, well-balanced, and complex wines.
First planted in 1980 by Ray Signorello Sr. and Jr., the estate vineyard includes a five-acre parcel of its original Chardonnay vines, some of the oldest in the Napa Valley, which is the source of Hope’s Cuvée Chardonnay, named for Ray Jr.’s mother. Most of the estate’s Cabernet Sauvignon was planted in 1990, with more recent plantings of Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Merlot in 2002. French and her team have recently added a small acreage of Petit Verdot, and an additional five acres of vineyard will be planted to Cabernet Sauvignon in the future.
Each vine is meticulously farmed and singularly treated, color-coded by clone and age to help inform picking decisions at harvest time. Sustainable, organic, and regenerative farming practices push the quality of the wines, building immunity in the vineyard through beneficial insects, compost teas, the use of bees and livestock, and a no-till philosophy, with careful monitoring of the team’s carbon footprint. The vineyard is already Napa Green-certified, with the winery to follow upon completion. Both the vineyard and winery will achieve CCOF-organic certification in the near future.
WINES AND WINEMAKING
Signorello Estate is devoted to making three estate wines of the utmost purity and precision, with a philosophy of minimal intervention winemaking that allows the estate to speak:
Hope’s Cuvée Estate-Grown Napa Valley Chardonnay ($100) is sourced from the estate’s five-acre parcel planted in 1980 in front of the winery on St. George rootstock to multiple clones. It is native yeast and barrel-fermented and aged to create an old-world, Burgundian-style Chardonnay. Unfiltered, only 400-450 cases are produced annually.
Padrone Estate-Grown Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($250) is Signorello’s flagship red, named for Ray Signorello Sr. Sourced from both sides of the estate, it is a symbiosis of both west and east-facing hillside vineyards, combining the warmth of the west with the coolness of the east, a celebratory punch of power and concentration softened by supple tannins and violet aromatics and blended with small percentages of estate-grown Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Merlot. Unfiltered and built to cellar, 1,000-2,000 cases are produced annually.
Signori Estate-Grown Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($150) spotlights the property’s cooler-climate east-facing hillsides. Highlighting the site’s uniqueness while showcasing Cabernet Sauvignon’s elegance, it takes approachability into equal consideration. Italian for gentlemen, Signori is available to the allocation list and through select accounts worldwide. 1,050 cases are produced.
ABOUT SIGNORELLO ESTATE
Signorello Estate is a leading Napa Valley producer of 100% estate-grown Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay devoted to the production of three estate wines: Hope’s Cuvée Chardonnay, Padrone Cabernet Sauvignon, and Signori Cabernet Sauvignon. Co-founded in 1977 by father and son Ray Sr. and Ray Jr. Signorello, the historic site is a true monopole, guided since 2019 by the esteemed team of Winemaker Priyanka French, Consulting Director of Winemaking Celia Welch, and Viticulturalist Steve Matthiasson. A state-of-the-art winery and caves will be completed in Summer 2024 and are open to visitors by appointment, 4500 Silverado Trail, between Napa and Yountville. For more information, please visit www.signorelloestate.com or phone 707.255.5990.
