2021 Signorello 'Hope's Cuvee' Chardonnay Napa Valley
The 2021 Hopes Cuvee Chardonnay is pure perfection right from its entry. An enticing bouquet of lemon meringue, delicate florals, orange blossom, white peach and honey greet you in the glass. On the palette, the wine has a rich body, yet with riveting focus and precision that balances the opulence perfectly. Long, salivating finish will have you pondering about the wine for years to come. Enjoy now or keep for a few years, this wine will continue to evolve beautifully in bottle.
We love those occasions when fate throws a wrench into someone's plan and everything turns out better than he ever could have mapped it himself. Such was the case with Ray Signorello Sr., who purchased a 100-acre estate in and around Napa Valley's Stags' Leap District with the plan to grow and sell grapes to existing wineries. All was going well until a surplus crop in 1985 left Ray with more fruit than he could possibly off-load. A glass half full kind of guy, Ray decided to give custom crush a shot. The results were so tasty; he realized that if he could make drinkable wine, then a real winemaker could work magic with such top-notch fruit. Since that 1985 experiment, Signorello has evolved into one of our favorite producers of small production Burgundian and Bordeaux-inspired wines. Ray Jr.'s focus is always on the fruit. Ray shares a similar vision with consulting winemaker Luc Morlet and winemaker Pierre Birebent - a vision favoring restraint and elegance to in-your-face and obvious.
Jeb Dunnuck
There are just 400 to 500 cases of the 2021 Chardonnay Hope's Cuvee, a riveting Napa Valley Chardonnay from this team that’s just about as good as it gets. Seeing partial malolactic fermentation and aging in 50% new French oak, it tastes like a great Montrachet with its ripe lemon, spicy wood, honeysuckle, and white flower aromatics. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has a concentrated, textured style, beautiful balance, and a great finish. If you get a chance to try a bottle, don’t miss it. It should keep for a decade.