Our Story
Long before Tuscany. Long before Bordeaux. Southern Italy was called Enotria — the land of wine — one of the oldest wine cultures in the Western world. Calabria was not merely an early wine region. It was the gateway through which viticulture entered Italy, and from Italy, the Western world.
Monte Reventino rises from that landscape in the heart of Calabria. It is where one branch of this family's story begins. Rooted in steep, rocky slopes shaped by generations of heroic viticulture — where donkeys once carried harvests across terrain too rugged for machinery — it was from these hills that Emilio Cardamone departed for the new world.
The other branch traces to Baltinglass Hill in County Wicklow, Ireland — a Bronze Age farming community with roots stretching back five thousand years. James Finlan was born on that hill. The Great Famine forced him from his land. He crossed the Irish Sea to Wales, and his descendants eventually crossed the Atlantic. In Baltinglass as in Calabria, families had worked the same soil for generations before circumstances beyond their control uprooted them.
The two lines found each other in California. Emilio's granddaughter, Ann, made her way to Napa Valley. There she met Butch — James Finlan's great great grandson — a man who acquired a rough patch of land on a hill in rural St. Helena.
The land itself required an act of faith. When Butch first acquired this hillside — covered in poison oak, dismissed by locals — few could see what it might become. Some things reveal themselves slowly. This hill was one of them.
Their son planted the vines. On that hillside, a small herd of donkeys worked the land — as they once did in Calabria and in Wicklow. Some instincts carry across oceans — and generations.
"Two ancient farming families, from two old world hills, converging on a new one. This is what that hill grows." - Jarrett Fenlon, Founder
The Vineyards
The Vineyards
The Vineyards
Reventino sources from two high-elevation Napa Valley vineyards.
Happy Ass Vineyard — our estate, planted at approximately 1,000 feet in the eastern hills of Napa Valley. 100% Cabernet Franc, farmed by hand on loamy, rocky soils that limit vigor and concentrate flavor. The donkeys work this hill the same way their ancestors did in Calabri
Reventino sources from two high-elevation Napa Valley vineyards.
Happy Ass Vineyard — our estate, planted at approximately 1,000 feet in the eastern hills of Napa Valley. 100% Cabernet Franc, farmed by hand on loamy, rocky soils that limit vigor and concentrate flavor. The donkeys work this hill the same way their ancestors did in Calabria and in Wicklow.
Turtle Rock Vineyard — a neighboring high-elevation site farmed with the same minimal intervention philosophy, planted to Sauvignon Blanc.
Together they produce the two parent varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon — the grape that made Napa Valley famous. We grow the original.
Happy Ass Vineyard planted 2023
Turtle Rock Vineyard planted 2024
Farming
The Vineyards
The Vineyards
Every row at both vineyards is farmed by hand using organic and sustainable practices, with a focus on minimal intervention and maximum attention to the vine.
Working at this scale allows a level of care and selectivity at harvest simply not possible at larger operations — every cluster evaluated, every decision made by hand.
At Happy Ass
Every row at both vineyards is farmed by hand using organic and sustainable practices, with a focus on minimal intervention and maximum attention to the vine.
Working at this scale allows a level of care and selectivity at harvest simply not possible at larger operations — every cluster evaluated, every decision made by hand.
At Happy Ass Vineyard, the donkeys share the work — clearing brush and maintaining the hillside the same way their ancestors did on the steep slopes of Calabria and the farming hills of Wicklow. Some methods don't need improving.
Our Wine
The Vineyards
Our Wine
Reventino produces two wines — each in single barrel quantities, each from high-elevation Napa Valley fruit, each telling half of the same story.
The Cabernet Franc comes from Happy Ass Vineyard, our estate. Aged 24 months before release, it is a restrained, mountain-grown expression of a single hillside — structured, precise, and built to
Reventino produces two wines — each in single barrel quantities, each from high-elevation Napa Valley fruit, each telling half of the same story.
The Cabernet Franc comes from Happy Ass Vineyard, our estate. Aged 24 months before release, it is a restrained, mountain-grown expression of a single hillside — structured, precise, and built to age.
The Fumé Blanc comes from Turtle Rock Vineyard, barrel fermented to honor the full complexity of the variety.
Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc are the two parent varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon — the grape that defined Napa Valley. Reventino grows both. Between these two wines, the entire origin story of Napa's most celebrated grape is told.
Una sola botte. One barrel. Every vintage. Nothing more.
The Estate in Pictures
