2006-07-28
SIGNORELLO VINEYARDS
The Dream Takes Shape
by Richard Paul Hinkle
The sage of Belgium, Cardinal Leo Suenens, once said, “Happy are those who dream dreams, and willing to work to make them come true.” The clear implication of that, to me at least, is that a good deal of the happiness derives from the effort itself, and less from its actual attainment.
That’s the lesson that Ray Signorello Jr. seems to be delighting in as he is making wine and building a solid wine estate on the northern edge of the town of Napa. Lean and fit, Ray is, in a way, fulfilling the dream that his father started when he purchased the plot of virgin soil in 1977. “One of my father’s business partners use to put horses out to pasture on this land, and my father fell in love with this place, initially thinking of it as a retirement home … and nothing more.
“But, when he befriended George Altimira and sold him the southern part of this piece – George was a certified wine nut and knew everybody in the valley – it was pretty much a no brainer that some grapes were going to be planted here on our parcel. So Dad started with Chardonnay, down on the flats near the Silverado Trail. It was pretty good fruit, and was sold to the likes of Caymus, Cakebread, Cuvaison and Franciscan.”
Still, the hillsides were far better suited to red varieties, and that’s what went in there: Cabernet Sauvignon, at nearly 18 acres, makes up the largest single planting, with much smaller plots dedicated to Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Syrah. There’s also a half acre each of Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier.
The Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc – the plantings of which are due to be expanded – are the makings of a delightful white blend called “Seta” ($25), the 2003 vintage showing crisp melon and pear fruit, and the clear ability to age well in bottle. “The word ‘seta’ means ‘silk’ in Italian,” explains co-winemaker Pierre Birebent, the Corsican native, and sixth generation winegrower, who has been in charge of vineyard and cellar since 1998. “I received my degree in viticulture and enology from Lycee Agricole Macon-Davaye in Macon [Burgundy, France].” Pierre also wants you to know that he is the proud papa of son Paul and daughter Isabelle.
“It’s important to have the winemaker spend a lot of time in the vineyard,” adds Ray. “I know there are those who look at winemakers like they were magicians, but if you haven’t done your work in the vineyard there’s no way you’re going to salvage anything in the winery. In fact, the less we do in the winery – presuming that we’ve done our work in the vineyard and have harvested good fruit – the better the wines are going to turn out.
“That doesn’t mean that we don’t take every precaution to insure that the fruit finds its way into the tanks in the best possible condition. We employ two sorting tables – and we’re going to add a third, which sorts out ‘shot’ berries – to make sure that only perfectly mature grape berries make it into our fermenting tanks. It takes that kind of intense management to make great wines.”
Taste the Estate Syrah 2004 ($38), with its dense strawberry, clove, coffee and peppercorn fruit, and a light dusting of oak toastiness. “We do use top quality French oak,” insists Ray, “but we don’t want to use so much that it impinges upon the fruit. The fruit, the character of the grape variety, that has to come first every time.”
The Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 ($40) is loaded with black olive fruit and is thick, with plenty of tannin, and hints of cassis and tobacco. (There are also a couple of wines made from purchased fruit, a black-cherry-dense Pinot Noir 2004 ($38) from Las Amigas Vineyard and a pomegranate-and-prune Zinfandel 2004 ($36) from quarter century-old vines on the Luvisi Vineyard, near Calistoga.
Ray Jr. is every bit the open-ended thinking business man his late father was. In addition to Signorello Vineyards, where he focuses on low-yield fruit and intense wines, he also has a venture in home town Vancouver (Canada) whereby folks get to make their own Napa Valley wines (or at least participate in their production) and a more local venture with a brand called “Edge,” for what Ray depicts as “cutting edge wines at cutting edge prices.”
Signorello Vineyards is located at 4500 Silverado Trail (0.2 mile south of Oak Knoll Avenue/3.2 miles north of Trancas), Napa CA 94558. Phone them at (707) 255-5990 or 1-800-982-4229. The winery is open daily, 10:30-5 and there is a $10 fee for tasting the current releases (as described above). On the Internet, go to www.signorellovineyards.com. 
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