Winery

My sustainably farmed, estate grown, limited production wines are a labor of love. Each year we make less than 2000 cases. I farm to craft the ultimate food-friendly and earth-friendly wines: fully extracted and ripe with layers of wonderful flavors. Learn more about my sustainable farming approach.

Eileen Cabernet, highest rating to-date of 93 Points, is planted in the rocky section of our vineyards, which naturally keeps our crop size down and berry size small, a key to making stellar Cabernet. The clone is Grace Family Vineyard clone, one of the first true cult wines in the Napa Valley. Eileen Cabernet is a soft, voluptuous Cabernet, and is blended of our best fruit from the Bambino blocks and as such is our "Reserve Cabernet." 

Bambino Cabernet, highest rating to-date of 93 Points, is our newest Cabernet vineyard at only 5 years old and is built upon Clone Tchelistcheff 337 (as in Andre Tchelistcheff, acclaimed wine-maker at Beaulieu Vineyards). Since flavor complexity comes as a vineyard gets older, we are extremely proud of our Bambino Cabernet, receiving 91 Point score by Wine Spectator in its first year. It is an exquisitely made, easy to drink Napa Cabernet, with an unbeatable price-value relationship. It will quickly and continually ascend in quality and interest. This vineyard is cane pruned (single arm, less positions, less fruit per plant), equaling better quality given the vineyard's relatively young age. 

Felicia Old Vine Zinfandel, highest rating to-date of 93 Points, a youthful 95 years old, these vineyards were planted before prohibition, and have never been irrigated (dry-farming), so the rootstock must work itself deep into the soil and endures healthy "stress" to get its nutrients and water. The result is mind-bending complexity of flavor. The flavors are so complex and layered that it is perfect for lingering over a long, slow meal to enjoy all its richness. The age of these vines comes through in the nose of the wine. In the spaces that have lost vines, we are slowly replanting with budwood from the old vines and a root stock that hasn't been used in the Napa Valley in 30 years. We get 1/4 of a ton per acre in this vineyard, compared to an average of 4 tons elsewhere in our vineyards (a bulk wine, or a $8/bottle of wine sold at Trader Joe's would usually come from a yield of more like 8 tons/acre, by comparison). 

Roux Old Vine Petite Sirah, highest rating to-date of 92 Points, is also a 95 year old, dry-farmed and head-pruned vineyard planted before prohibition. It is a full-throttle, highly concentrated expression of Petite Sirah. When UC Davis was in this vineyard picking budwood, they identified 5 different clones of Petite Sirah, two of which they've never seen in the Napa Valley. This vineyard is a field blend, primarily of Petite Sirah with Grenache, Mourvedre and the occasional Black Muscat. Field blends were commonly planted in the early 1900's, where today, we might blend fruit from three different vineyards. It is the most age-worthy wine we make, and will cellar beautifully for a decade and beyond.

Giana Zinfandel, highest rating to-date of 92 Points, is named after my youngest daughter. It is an ode to the number one red wine sold in my many restaurants -- Rafanelli Zinfandel (Dry Creek, Sonoma) -- because it is a perfect match to my food. It stands proudly aside a wide variety of bold-flavored foods, passed on an endless array of family-style platters. So for my first planting of my own vineyards, I called my friends to "borrow" some Rafanelli budwood. We grow it like many farm Cabernet, narrow-spaced and vertically-trellised (hedge rows) because Zinfandel tends to ripen unevenly. This method allows even ripening from both morning and afternoon sun, as the canapy opens up in just the right places based on our row-by-row pruning style. We farm back to 3.5 or 4 tons per acre to improve flavor concentration, although this vineyard routinely produces twice that much fruit. Most of the flavor in grapes comes from the skin. Since Zinfandel grapes are larger than Cabernet, we also must drain off some juice after harvest to increase the skin-to-juice ratio and again increase the flavor of the wine. That juice, most delicious in itself, becomes part of our new Rose wine. Approximately 900 Cases made.

Chiara Bianca Ribolla Gialla, Our first Napa Valley white wine.  From a prestigious north Napa vineyard planted with cuttings from Friulian master Josko Gravner, our inaugural release of Ribolla Gialla features notes of honeysuckle, beeswax, citrus fruit, apricot and minerals. It was raised naturally for 8 months in neutral French oak barrels.  I know you'll enjoy this white wine as much as I do!  Salute! Approximately 125 cases made.

Chiara Rose, inaugural release in June 2007, is an exciting new project for Chiarello Vineyards. I'd grown increasingly interested in making a Rose after tasting some fantastic ones lately. Making a full-flavored Rose was the trick for me, as it still had to meet my food-savvy wine test, and stand up to relatively bold flavors that I require in my everyday meals. In an effort to keep flavors high and alcohol lower, we bleed off some grape juice just after crush from each tank of our red wines. Low and behold, awesome juice tinged with a gorgeous red color, is ready to make into barrel fermented Rose! Ours has a healthy dose of tropical flavors and strawberry, more salmon in color than rose, and will be my go-to summer wine. It has more stature and interest that your average Chardonnay. The acid is bright, also lending it well to diversity in food pairings. Exclusive release to our Chiarello Reserve Club customers first. Approximately 75 Cases made.