2006-12-15
Signorello Vineyards
A Reputation for Quality Grapes, Quality Wines
by Charles Neave
Though he may have been born in San Francisco, and grown up at the
family home in Vancouver, Canada, in many ways it is the Napa Valley
that is the real home of Ray Signorello, Jr., vineyard owner of the
enterprise that bears the family name: Signorello Vineyards.
Though he still spends time in Vancouver, and traveling on business, he
is very much hands-on when it comes to the winery, and to the premium
grapes and wines it produces. It is all part of a journey that began in
the middle of the 1980s, an exciting time to be involved in making wine
in this part of Northern California.
It was Ray Signorello, Sr. that started the whole ball rolling when he
bought a hundred-acre estate on the Silverado Trail. Together, father
and son worked alongside each other to establish the wine estate’s
reputation until the fall of 1998, when Ray Sr. passed away.
Their original plan had been to be growers; to grow the highest quality
grapes possible that could then be sold to other premium wineries
throughout Napa Valley. However as things turned out, the 1985 harvest
changed all of that. The harvest that year was particularly bountiful
and it allowed the Signorellos, father and son, to custom crush some of
the grapes. The results were, in a word, spectacular.
Today, those original hundred acres of land are divided into 42 acres
of planted vineyards. They contain five acres of Chardonnay, two acres
each of Semillon and Syrah, a little over 22 acres of Cabernet
Sauvignon, three of Cabernet Franc, six acres of Merlot and
half-an-acre plots of Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc.
Following that fateful 1985 harvest the Signorellos moved onto the next
phase, the building of their own winery. Today, this stunning facility
houses their tasting room and fully equipped professional kitchen used
for many events that can be scheduled for their patio which has a
breathtaking view of all of southern Napa Valley.
The decade that followed saw the planting of the first red varietals on
the property, as the family became fully committed to producing
exceptional wines under their own label. During the growing season each
and every vine is carefully monitored with leaf thinning done in early
summer to keep the grape leaves away from the fruit and provide the
proper ratio of sun to clusters, insuring ripeness at harvest. The
vines are dry farmed, which means they are watered only when necessary
during the summer months in order to keep the plants healthy. This all
results in a lower yield per acre, but it also concentrates the
complexity and flavor of the fruit, all very desirable characteristics.
When harvest – crush – arrives, the grapes are picked by hand before
sunrise and sorted early in the cool mornings between daybreak and 10
a.m. The fruit is put into small hand-held bins so that they will not
be crushed under their own weight. Within an hour after picking, the
white grapes are gently whole-cluster pressed, which minimizes skin
contact and reduces any potential harshness. The red varietals are
destemmed and lightly crushed so that up to a third of the whole
cluster grapes remain intact.
The Signorello family grew in 1998 with the proud addition of Pierre
Birebent, a sixth-generation winegrower who grew up with his family on
their vineyard in Corsica, France. Pierre studied and received his
degree in viticulture and enology from “Lycee Agricole Micon-Davaye” in
Macon, Burgundy, France. His dedication, hard work, knowledge and
passion for wine is a key component in the quality wines that are
produced at Signorello Vineyards.
If you’d like to sample the wines of Signorello Vineyards their tasting
room is open from 10:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. every day of the week They
are located at 4500 Silverado Trail, north of the City of Napa, on the
east side of the Napa Valley. For more information contact them at
(707) 255-5990. Or go ahead and look them up on the World Wide Web at
www.signorellovineyards.com.
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