Before starting her own winery, Kelly Fleming was in the restaurant business. She and her former husband were the “F” in P.F. Chang restaurants and also the force behind Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar. Managing the wine program at Fleming’s naturally brought her to Napa Valley, where she caught the bug, as they say, and started dreaming of owning a winery. In 1998 Kelly took the first steps towards that dream, purchasing a 300-acre property at the end of Pickett Road in the Calistoga AVA. The first vines were planted in 1999 in the southern part of the property, selected for its excellent soils on rolling slopes. The vineyard is managed by Mike Wolf, one of Napa’s best. Originally there were just eight acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, but four more were added in 2005. There is also a tiny quarter-acre of Malbec. In addition to the vines, there are some fruit, nut, and olive trees, but the majority of the land has been preserved in its natural state in keeping with the winery’s philosophy of sustainability.

The first wine produced was the 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon, released in the spring of 2005. Celia Welch (of Scarecrow, Keever, Lindstrom, and her own Corra) came on board as winemaker in 2003 and stayed through the 2013 harvest. Current winemaker Rebecca George took over in 2014. She joined the estate in 2011 as an assistant winemaker, bottling the 2012s and finishing the 2013s. 2014 is her first vintage at the helm from start to finish.  The flagship bottling is the Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, but Rebecca also makes a Sauvignon Blanc, a Rosé, and a Bordeaux blend called “Big Pour.”