The Perfect Summer Sip – 2023 Soliloquy

Summer evenings are meant to be enjoyed with a glass of cool white wine. This is the perfect summer sip for long, evenings spent with family & friends – 2023 Soliloquy. A layered blend of Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc, Malvasia, and Chardonnay continues our quest to make the finest white wine possible from our sustainably farmed family-owned vineyards. We are delighted to release 2023 Soliloquy, the newest release of our Flagship Wine, and a unique opportunity for us to bottle these treasured, very limited fruit sources from the best Napa Valley vineyards.

The Soliloquy Story

Our 2023 Soliloquy was grown in the well-drained H block of our Crossroads Vineyard, where vineyard practices include aggressive canopy and cluster management to ensure an ideal balance of fruit to vine. Our 2023 Flora Springs Soliloquy is the continuation of a remarkable journey that began in 1989. Noting the unique character of a small block of Sauvignon Blanc from our Crossroads Vineyard in the Oakville AVA, we fermented and bottled it separately as our first Soliloquy white wine. Our hunch that there was something exceptional about these Sauvignon Blanc vines was confirmed shortly thereafter when UC Davis certified Soliloquy as a singular clone entirely unique to Flora Springs…and when critics responded enthusiastically to the wine. But our journey took a turn in the 1990s when our vines became diseased and the clone nearly went extinct. Determined to save this piece of Napa Valley history, our family spent the next eight years in a quest to preserve the Soliloquy clone, growing new plant material in a lab, propagating a few dozen vines in a nursery, and replicating them in the vineyard.

With the new vines established, General Manager Nat Komes took Soliloquy on as a personal project, conducting numerous blending trials over a several year period to re-create the Soliloquy wine he remembered from its earliest vintages. Experimenting with different yeast strains, fermentation regimes, aging vessels and varietal compositions yielded the wine Nat knew from taste memory, and today, Soliloquy represents our quest to create the finest white wine we have ever made.

White Wine Blends

In an attempt to preserve the thumbprint of this treasured fruit source, the fruit is whole-cluster fermented in it’s natural yeast. This technique also means there is no inoculated yeast present in the wine. This gives the wine a freshness and a zesty finish, the perfect summer evening accompaniment to lighter dishes. Floral notes with a hint of citrus that are best served chilled. Anchored by 85% Sauvignon Blanc, notes of honeysuckle prevail. Malvasia introduces tart apple and orange blossom to the palate and hints of Chardonnay weave citrus highlights throughout.

The 2023 Vintage

In 2023, Napa Valley experienced one of the longest growing seasons in a decade or more. Winter and spring rains led to full reservoirs and healthy, saturated soils; ideal conditions as grape growers headed into the peak growing months. With consistent, mild weather throughout the season, above-average crop yields, and extended hang time, 2023 was an exceptional, high-quality, and memorable vintage.