The Phoenix of Napa Valley Spreads Its Wings Again

What happens when a storied Napa Valley property faces the ultimate loss? In 2017 Signorello Estate found itself in the wake of the Atlas Fire, one of many that burned through Napa and Sonoma Counties during late summer and into the harvest. While it was predicted that they would need two years to rebuild the property and re-open, their fate would ultimately take a few years longer. Today we are proud to announce, Signorello Estate has re-opened its property at 4500 Silverado Trail in Napa, with a fresh new look and many surprises that will attract the most savvy of wine travelers.

One of Napa Valley’s leading monopoles, Signorello opens its state-of-the-art winery and caves to visitors today as it releases the 2021 vintage wines from its dream team of [former] Winemaker Priyanka French, Consulting Director of Winemaking Celia Welch, and Viticulturalist Steve Matthiasson. Signorello is an esteemed Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay producer with some of the oldest vines in the Napa Valley. They are proud to 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 future-proofing 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.

After the original Signorello winery was destroyed by the Atlas Fire 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 is to welcome back visitors 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.

Tastings are $175 per person, and the winery is open daily from 10am to 4pm.

Visit signorelloestate.com to learn more and to make tasting reservations.