Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All Vintages
The story began in 1888 when Italian immigrant and Napa grocer Felix Borreo built a stone and redwood winery on his vineyard property near Napa Soda Springs. Borreo planted grape vines, fruit, and olive orchards. In 1992, the Disney Miller family who founded Silverado purchased the site. The winery remained one of Napa’s last ‘ghost’ wineries until it was sadly destroyed in the 2017 wildfires. Under Silverado’s care, the vineyard known as Soda Creek Ranch, has continued to thrive with grapes, olives, citrus, figs, and pomegranates. Silverado has been producing select wines from this storied vineyard – including Sangiovese, Rosé, and Zinfandel.
As a tribute to Felix Borreo the vineyard has officially been named Borreo Ranch vineyard – the exclusive grape source for Silverado’s new portfolio of BORREO wines. The illustrations of these botanicals on the bottle reflect this fruitful property and were designed by artist and Walt Disney’s great granddaughter, Annabelle Rey Miller – a fourth generation winery owner.
Undoubtedly proving its merit over and over, Napa Valley is a now a leading force in the world of prestigious red wine regions. Though Cabernet Sauvignon dominates Napa Valley, other red varieties certainly thrive here. Important but often overlooked include Merlot and other Bordeaux varieties well-regarded on their own as well as for their blending capacities. Very old vine Zinfandel represents an important historical stronghold for the region and Pinot noir is produced in the cooler southern parts, close to the San Pablo Bay.
Perfectly situated running north to south, the valley acts as a corridor, pulling cool, moist air up from the San Pablo Bay in the evenings during the hot days of the growing season, which leads to even and slow grape ripening. Furthermore the valley claims over 100 soil variations including layers of volcanic, gravel, sand and silt—a combination excellent for world-class red wine production.