Kelly Fleming Winery

Kelly Fleming Winery was located in the northern part of Napa Valley, nestled in the narrow Simmons Canyon against the steep hillsides of the Vaca mountain range only a 5 minute drive from the center of historic Calistoga. From this part of the valley, one hardly knows they are in Napa Valley. Rugged hillsides, narrow secluded canyons and forested slopes all form the backdrop for what was Kelly Fleming’s nearly 12 hillside planted acres of Cabernet Sauvignon separated into 7 different blocks. Four acres of vines were burned in the Glass Fire of 2020 but were replanted. As of our latest update to this review, several acres of of the original vines planted in 1999 still remain. This is prime Cabernet Sauvignon country and nearby vineyard or winery neighbors include Kenefick Ranch, Eisele Vineyard and Venge Vineyards. In 2021, Four Seasons Resort and Residences Napa Valley, opened in Calistoga, a less than a 5-minute drive from the former Kelly Fleming Winery.

NOTE: In mid August 2024, it was announced that vintner Jayson Woodbridge had purchased Kelly Fleming Winery and the entire estate property but not the Kelly Fleming wine brand. Woodbridge is the owner of other northern Napa Valley wineries including Hundred Acre, Fortunate Son (the former David Fulton property), the former Madrigal Winery property, and a property on Larkmead Lane called True Romance. Woodbridge also owns the former Peterson Ranch near Sebastopol in Sonoma County for his wine brand, Summer Dreams.

The grapes from the former Kelly Fleming Winery will be used as a vineyard designate wine, bottled under Hundred Acre.

Kelly founded the winery in 2002 after she and her then husband Paul purchased the 300-acre property in 1998. Paul was the co-founder of Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar; the first Fleming’s is still operating in Fashion Island in Newport Beach. He also co-founded P. F. Chang’s China Bistro with the F in their name referring to Fleming. Kelly was born and raised in Lake Oswego (a suburb of Portland) in Oregon, later attended college in Manhattan (Cooper Union College) to study fine arts and then eventually began a career in restaurant design.

She visited Napa Valley for over 20 years and like many others before her fell in love with the natural beauty and lifestyle of the wine industry. Soon after their purchase the property was planted with various Cabernet Sauvignon clones on an assortment of rootstock. While This particular hillside soil is extremely rocky and well drained. As a result, cover crops and the addition of organic layers to the surface are extremely important which help with both erosion control as well as ensuring the soil retains additional moisture. The vineyards are certified CCOF organic.

Because of the very rugged and natural surroundings, the estate often has visits from wildlife including foxes and sometimes a local bear.

As Kelly told us during our first visit years ago, prior to the winery being open, “building a winery and brand come in small steps”. She made these steps one at a time. Initially Kelly Fleming wine was made Laird Family Winery in the south part of the valley but with the completion of her 3,500 square foot caves, all wine making was conducted on the property from the 2010 harvest through the 2023 harvest. The 5,000 square foot stone winery building was designed by San Francisco based Taylor Lombardo Architects. Both arms of the cave were drilled through solid rock so the shotcrete covering typically used in wine caves wasn’t needed except at the entrance to protect against dripping water. Natural rock is exposed in the rest of the caves. These were not easy caves to drill; the drilling took nearly 2 years (much longer than expected) because of the density of the compressed volcanic ash. And the winery housed a commercial kitchen, sometimes used for dinners and member release events.

Much of the property could not be planted due to county slope ordinances. Kelly is a firm believer in creating a healthy balance between her vineyards and the natural environment. During her ownership, she introduced beehives to the property, a native plant reseeding program was implemented and several years prior to selling the property, solar cells replaced tiny block 2 and contributed additional energy for the winery operations. Parts of the property are planted to olives, figs and gardens. Small amounts of olive oil were produced each year and sometimes, depending on the activity of black bears, a tiny amount of fig jam was also produced from fig trees.

It is often breezy in this area from steep canyons that rise dramatically behind the property. One advantage of this over the valley floor is these winds mitigate stagnate air and colder temperatures which can produce frost damage during and after bud break.

Kelly Fleming’s first vintage was in 2002 with merely 300 cases released several years later; since then, each vintage has grown slightly but they do have the capacity to increase production. They produce several very limited production wines each vintage including two Sauvignon Blancs, a rosé of Cabernet Sauvignon made with just a few hours of skin contact, but with excellent texture and richness of flavor, Big Pour, a red blend which varies in varietal percentages each year and has an intriguing accompanying story in reference to its catchy name, a 100% varietal estate Cabernet Sauvignon and a wine made only during exceptional vintages, Bear & Beast.

Kelly was the only “face” of the winery for many years; the team is still tiny with at times her son Robert and daughter Colleen involved as well as a small but mighty wine making and hospitality team. Several talented winemakers have crafted the Kelly Fleming wines over the years including their founding winemaker, Celia Welch and later Rebecca George with Francois Peschon consulting, Andy Jones and starting with the 2023 vintage, Jennifer Williams. One of Napa Valley’s most respected viticulturists, Mike Wolf oversaw the management of their vineyard.

Select Wines
Whites
The 2022 Kelly Fleming Sauvignon Blanc, Oak Knoll (Ryans Vineyard) is medium gold; the bouquet offers both citrus and tropical aromas including of honeysuckle, honeydew melon, orange blossom, pineapple and light notes of stone fruits including nectarine. This wine smells like springtime. The palate is balanced, refreshing and bright with flavors of pineapple, apricot, nectarine, honeycomb, red apple and pear. The finish is vibrant and lively. It drinks very well by itself, but if we were to pair this with something it would be shellfish. This wine is 100% from the Sauvignon Musqué clone, is 13.3% alcohol and was aged for 6 months in 40% stainless steel vessels and 60% neutral French oak barrels. For some of this time it underwent battonage.

They produce a second very limited Sauvignon Blanc each year for allocation members called Queen Bees. It is aged longer in oak including an Austrian barrel and is from grapes from both Napa Valley and the Russian River Valley in neighboring Sonoma County.

The 2023 Kelly Fleming Sauvignon Blanc Oak Knoll District is medium gold in color; this highly aromatic white is bursting with aromas at this age. These include spring florals, a strong presence of honeysuckle, citrus blossom, stone fruits and tropical fruits. During one of our visits while trying this wine, our host Connor was reminded by its aromatics of pulling out the long tubular stems from honeysuckle flowers when he was a child and enjoying the liquid nectar. We remember doing the same thing. The bouquet is captivating also offers aromas of apricot, yellow nectarine, peach and pear. It is sweetly fruited. One word we first wrote down to describe the palate is balance followed by vibrancy. It offers flavors of green apple, citrus, lemon zest and grapefruit. The finish is mouth watering and refreshing. The aromatics are on the riper end of the spectrum but the palate showcases the more herbal characteristics of this variety. It begs another sip which is one of the best complements one can bestow upon a wine.

Reds
The Big Pour is a newer wine to the portfolio. Kelly earned the nickname “big pour” while visiting Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Burgundy’s iconic and most storied Pinot Noir producer. Her command of French is not so good and while tasting these special, and expensive wines, the host thought he heard Kelly indicate that she wanted more wine. He then poured more wine in another glass and gave it to her. Someone else in the tasting quick with tongue and wit, simply stated “I want to be next to the Big Pour”!

The 2021 Kelly Fleming Big Pour is dark ruby in color; the bouquet is fruit forward with aromas of dark plum, blackberry, boysenberry, dust, dried tobacco spice, sweaty baseball mitt leather and chocolate. The aromatics are generous, layered and ripe but do not cross into the territory of being opulent. The palate is also layered with flavors of blackberry, dark plum, dark cherry and a hint of cinnamon. The tannins are dusty and grainy in texture with a drying character outpacing the fruit on the finish. This wine is 99% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Malbec, the highest percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon Kelly Fleming has incorporated in any of their Big Pour vintages. While always dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon this wine is usually blended with tiny amounts of Syrah and Malbec. It was just released at the time of our tasting, and was still showing very youthful.

One of Kelly’s friends, a photographer used always contribute a photograph for the Big Pour labels, but in 2015 the label was changed to match their other wines.

The 2014 Kelly Fleming Big Pour is a blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Malbec and 8% Syrah. This wine is deep ruby; the nose shows aromas of leather, dark raspberry, red cherries, tobacco spice, dried herbs and dried berries with the fruit still the star of the show here, 10 years post vintage at the time of our tasting. Some tertiary aromas are starting to creep in. The tannins have certainly softened over time and now are felt as rounded with an almost creamy-like texture but still with a persistent grip. Bright on the finish, it lingers mostly red fruited including raspberry and cherry with a drying character of dried tobacco. Both the Malbec and Syrah are from from Chiles Valley.

The 2012 Kelly Fleming Big Pour is a blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Syrah, 5% Malbec and 5% Petite Verdot. The bouquet is immediately voluptuous bouquet and generous with layers of fruit including ripe blackberry, some intriguing spices including spicy plum, and notes of tea. Bright acidity leads to a mouthwatering finish. The palate sports primarily darker fruits accompanied by notes of mocha and brown chocolate. The tannins feel pleasant on the palate and are not rough or contain any sharp edges. This finish is long lasting. The labels for this wine are highly personalized and change each year. One year Kelly’s sister took the photo for the label; another vintage portrays Kelly standing with a rifle and their winery dog.

The 2019 Kelly Fleming Cabernet Sauvignon is 100% varietal; this wine is deep ruby in the glass; the bouquet offers scents of sweet tobacco spice, an earthy character, toasted oak, blackberry, dark cherry and a more subtle layer of licorice. This wine sports flavors of dark plum, cherry, blackberry, and currant with a dried tobacco spice most noticeable on the finish. The tannins still show as youthful with a grainy and gritty character which outpaces the fruit on the finish. A light tartness and a drying character persists. Drinking this wine made us want to pair it with a well marbled steak, a summer evening with friends over a BBQ. While it is always 100% varietal, this wine is carefully made every year as a blend of different blocks, clones and a diversity of rootstock. This wine was aged for 20 months in 77% new French oak barrels with 23% in neutral French oak barrels.

The 2018 Kelly Fleming Cabernet Sauvignon is deep ruby in color; the bouquet is darkly fruited including plum, sweaty baseball mitt leather being used on a hot day, tobacco spice, and a dark character that made us write the word brooding down in our notes. There are also some light nuances of toasted oak and some herbal characters including dried sage, but these are not as pronounced as in the 2016 bottling. This wine offers a layered complexity in terms of both flavor and texture. Bright across the palate with both red and darker fruit flavors including cherry, blackberry and currant. The tannins show more on the front of the palate than the back. They are gravelly, grainy and persistent. This is a wine of character, length and intensity. Shows more youthful than we expected 6 years post vintage. This wine may go the longest of their estate Cabernet Sauvignons we have tried over the years.

The 2016 Kelly Fleming Cabernet Sauvignon is deep ruby; the bouquet shows more herbal notes than other vintages we have tried including red and green chili pepper spice, dried herbs and a dark tobacco spice. This wine in particular needs some time for the fruit to be coaxed out on the bouquet. For reference we tasted it eight years post vintage. There is a pleasing balance of herbal plus red and darker fruits on the bouquet. The palate offers flavors of red cherry, plum, and dark raspberry. Brightly lit and still very much energetic, this wine still has loads of life ahead of it. The tannins are densely packed, gravelly, and grainy but without any sharp edges. They are almost chalky in their textural character. The finish is mouth watering. Lingers with tobacco spice and a persistent dusty/drying character. This wine was aged for 20 months in 75% new French oak barrels and 25% neutral barrels.

The 2013 Kelly Fleming Estate Cabernet Sauvignon reveals a sweetness on the bouquet indicating a ripeness of fruit. However the aromas maintain a certain simultaneous elegance. This bouquet is well layered and offers scents of boysenberry, blackberry and sweet plum. The palate is generous with flavor as this vintage certainly was for Napa Valley as a whole, however this wine has mouth-watering acidity to balance and match the intensity of flavor. The mouth feel is supple until the mid-palate with tannins showing up more noticeably on the extended finish. This wine was aged for 20 months in 70% new French oak barrels and 30% neutral French oak barrels.

During one of our early visits with Kelly, we tried the 2004 Kelly Fleming 100% Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. Regardless of vintage, this wine is always 100% varietal. All the Cabernet Sauvignon clones in this wine are harvested separately based on individual ripeness and are then fermented and aged separately until the final blending. This wine is inky and dark in color, reflecting the color characteristics for hillside grapes with their often-higher skin to juice ratio as compared to valley floor grown grapes. As the wine opens, it offers attractive aromas of ripe and juicy blackberries accompanied by exotic earth driven spices. The palate is rich and well layered with an intensity of fruit in the middle leading to a well-structured, yet simultaneous elegant finish.

The 2018 Bear & the Beast is deep ruby in color; the bouquet is red fruited with scents of dark raspberry, cherry, in union with some darker spices including crushed pink peppercorn . This wine offers more complexity and girth than the 2018 estate bottling. The palate is dominated by red fruits. Bright, big but also a balanced bottling. It reveals flavors of currant, red cherry, plum and dark raspberry. Crunchy. Lively with a vibrancy, characteristics we noticed in both of their estate 2018 bottlings. The tannins are grainy, gritty and fully coat the palate with a lingering dusty/slate rock character. This bottling is highly worth seeking out and will be extremely cellar worthy.

As of our latest update to this review, Bear and the Beast has only been released four times in their history: 2012, 2017, 2018 and 2019. It is a barrel selection of their most premium lots, only bottled during exceptional vintages, aged a bit longer than the estate bottling using the most premium oak barrels.

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Since the sale of the winery and property, visits for tastings are no longer being hosted. If Kelly Fleming ever offers a place to taste their wines in the future, we will visit and update our notes and photography accordingly.

The winery was permitted to see a very limited number of guests each day, so tastings were always private for your own group. Tastings were held either in a semi-enclosed room, or inside their hospitality room; either place is ideal for relaxing while enjoying their premium wines. During tastings, views are overlooking their vineyards and the rugged natural landscape surrounding this hidden gem. And each tasting came with either a small plate of cheeses and light bites or a much larger cheese and charcuterie board.

Kelly Fleming is a member of the Napa Valley based Mercury Wine Syndicate, an exclusive network of 27 primarily Napa Valley boutique wineries and producers. Membership is capped at 27 producers, with additional interested members added to a wait list. This syndicate is named in homage to Mercury the Roman god of communication and commerce. The name also refers to Napa County as in the latter half of the 1800s being a large producer of mercury, extracted from cinnabar ore from mines located primarily in Pope Valley and in the hills of the Vaca mountain range. The Mercury Wine Syndicate hosts member events and selected tastings both in Napa Valley and in other parts of the country.

One can sometimes find the Kelly Fleming wines locally at ACME Wine shop in St. Helena; they selectively distribute a limited amount of wine to Switzerland and parts of Asia. Total annual production has been as high as 3,000 cases a year but currently is around 1,000 cases. And Kelly Fleming maintains a library collection with limited numbers of wines available for purchase often dating back 10+ years. For more information, to purchase wines, to schedule a visit or to join their allocation list, visit: www.kellyflemingwines.com

Former Winery/Hospitality
We keep our photographs for historical reference.

First Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, Fashion Island Newport Beach

Cadet, Napa & Betty Wine Bar, Sacramento
Colleen founded and operated the well-respected Cadet Wine Bar in downtown Napa, tucked in a little alley just off of Franklin Street. She sold her ownership in Cadet in 2021. This is a cool place to hang out in the evenings, especially for industry folk and it often hosts special winemaker led tastings. The bar is well stocked with both beer, wine and spirits but perhaps somewhat surprisingly there are no bottles from Kelly Fleming sold here. Cadet is one of the few places in downtown Napa that stays open late. And in late 2023, the current owners of Cadet opened Chispa Bar, also in downtown Napa – a space that serves a variety of Tequila along with seafood and various bar bites.

After selling Cadet, Colleen founded Betty Wine Bar & Bottle Shop in Southside Park in downtown Sacramento in late 2022. This beautiful neighborhood is primarily residential homes. Betty is named after Colleen’s grandmother; the space sells a diverse collection of over 300 wines; during a recent visit, their wine selection seemed to be weighted towards international bottlings. The only Napa Valley producer we saw represented was Spottswood’s Sauvignon Blanc.

Small bites are available including their popular chips and dip. Seating is either inside or weather permitting outside in their back patio. While enjoying an Italian Verdicchio, conversation from those seated at neighboring tables ranged from Tinder, to dogs, to existentialism to visiting Napa Valley. The vibe here is youthful.

And for those interested in receiving some of these wines on a regular basis, Betty offers the Field Sort Wine Club.