Faniani
COOMBSVILLE AVA
APPELLATION – Coombsville AVA
VARIETIES – Cabernet Sauvignon
CLONES – 339, 169, 685
In September 2012, Kelly Hendrickson purchased the property that would become Faniani Vineyards. With a permit to plant just over 4 acres of vineyard, the dream of growing high-end Cabernet Sauvignon was born. Located in Coombsville, the vineyard sits within Napa Valley’s newest sub-appellation. Faniani Vineyards now covers more than 6 planted acres.
A fourth generation Californian, Kelly spent most of her life in the Los Angeles area before being drawn to Napa. However, she has deep roots in Northern California, as her grandmother’s family, the Faniani’s, began ranching in Butte County in the 1860s. Giving the vineyard the Faniani name pays tribute to Kelly’s Swiss-Italian heritage and her family’s pioneering spirit.
Having earned a Bachelor’s degree in business/marketing from California State University Long Beach, Kelly’s career was long focused on financial management in both the aerospace and legal industry. To ensure her vineyard’s success, from the onset, Kelly surrounded herself with a team of talented professionals. From an initial vision on paper, which she crafted with her colleagues, the vineyard began to take shape. The first four acre phase was planted as rootstock in 2014 and field grafted in 2015. Bench grafts were planted in 2016 for the additionally permitted area. In April 2016, Kelly entered into the vineyard’s first grape contract, which fortuitously, was with Bell Wine Cellars. In September that year, she delivered her first harvest to Bell.
Over the years, Kelly has come to appreciate her good fortune in purchasing the property where the vineyard makes its home. The Coombsville AVA is known for its gravely loams and unique soil content. Continuous erosion over millions of years have left the land rich in volcanic ash and rock. That, coupled with its generally cooler temperatures than most AVA’s in Napa Valley and numerous micro-climates, has made Coombsville a dream location to be a grape grower. For Kelly, the vineyard is more than her life’s work. It’s her true passion.