Stolen Owl Wine was founded by Brad Solso & Mavis Yee; Charles McKahn is their winemaker. Solso and Yee purchased this 11-acre property in 2017; he recalls that at the time, the land was completely overgrown and they couldn’t even see the driveway. A number of oak trees located on the back of the property were unhealthy, so Brad called one of his friends, a forester. He hung a flag with the image of an owl in front of the property – next to Deer Park Road and told his friend to look for it, to make it easier to identify where to turn into the driveway. Unfortunately, the flag was stolen prior to his friend visiting. Afterwards he jokingly referred to the incident as “the stolen owl”. Ultimately they decided the name had a nice ring to it and chose it to represent their wine brand. It is a name that quickly invites questions about its origin.
Brad spent much of his career leading operational turnarounds for venture-backed companies before turning his attention to wine. One such company he was most recently involved in, Whimstay®, focuses on last-minute vacation rentals, sporting an inventory of several million properties worldwide, with their largest market in North America.
He remembers his first wine tasting experience vividly. Shortly after turning 21, he traveled to Sonoma County during the middle of the week and visited the family-owned and operated Foppiano Vineyards. When he arrived, no one was in the tasting room. Spotting an open doorway with a light on, he followed a hallway that led into a kitchen. He stuck his head in and said hello, prompting an older gentleman to shout, “What are you doing?” Brad quickly put him at ease by replying, “We’re here for a wine tasting.” The man turned out to be a member of the Foppiano family. He reached up to a shelf, pulled down three highball glasses, and proceeded to host their tasting right there in his kitchen.
Prior to starting Stolen Owl Brad was involved in a number of wine-related activities. His children attended St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco. While they were in school, he helped establish a wine committee through the SI Fathers’ Club. He also helped develop a unique partnership between St. Ignatius and the Court of Master Sommeliers, creating special wine dinner events that benefited the school.
Beyond St. Ignatius, he was involved with other charitable organizations, including the Guardsmen and their wine auctions. He found creative ways to maximize the value of wine donations for fundraising efforts. One of his most successful ideas was to have a wine refrigerator donated, fill it with the most premium bottles contributed by supporters, and then raffle off the entire collection rather than auctioning the bottles individually. This approach often generated significantly greater proceeds for the benefiting charities.
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Although wine had long remained a passion project, an unexpected grape opportunity in 2017 transformed that interest into a commercial venture. A friend who owned an 80-acre vineyard property in Knights Valley, in Sonoma County, offered Brad one ton of Malbec. The vineyard, located off Franz Valley Road, was planted on gravelly valley-floor soils and contained older vines that were in need of replanting. The owner did not know the rootstock or clone selections, although he believed the plant material may have originated on vineyards on Mt. Veeder. He also could not recall exactly when the vines had been planted. And prior to this arrangement, the vineyard’s grapes had been sold to Constellation Brands.
However, Brad decided not to produce Malbec that vintage due to the possibility of smoke taint from the Tubbs Fire which started in early October that year north of Calistoga – with the resulting smoke affecting vineyards not only in northern Napa Valley but also in Knights Valley. The same grower again offered grapes in 2018, 2019 and 2020 – all three vintages were produced and bottled by Stolen Owl. Unfortunately that vineyard has since been removed.
But in 2017 Stolen Owl did produce a limited production of St. Helena Cabernet Sauvignon from grapes from Ballentine Vineyard; this was the inaugural vintage of Stolen Owl. Grape sources for the Cabernet Sauvignon have changed over the years; in 2019 and 2020 grapes were from Kapcsándy Family Winery in Yountville. Regardless of sourcing, all the wines to date have been 100% varietal.
Silverado Vineyard Management, under the direction of Pete Richmond, ripped the ground and then planted the one-acre Stolen Owl Vineyard and managed the vines through the 2025 season. In 2026, St. Helena-based T & M Agricultural Services assumed management of Stolen Owl Vineyard. The site of the vineyard was primarily an overgrown meadow, nestled against the extremely rocky hillsides. The vineyard was established with 3309 rootstock planted in 2018, followed by grafting of clone 4 Cabernet Sauvignon in 2019, ultimately yielding a small inaugural harvest in 2021. Wine was also made in 2022 but never released. Despite such a small vineyard, there is variation; Brad has noticed that the vines planted on the eastern part of the vineyard next to the ‘natural rock piles’ tend to struggle more.
The 2020 Glass Fire burned a significant portion of their property, but with defensible space, both the house and vineyard were not harmed. Portions of the property were planted to an olive grove, and several of those mature trees still remain, continuing to produce olives today. A small amount of olive oil is produced each year for friends and family.
Wildlife remains an important part of the estate, with both an owl box and a kestrel box installed on the property.
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Conveniently, while tasting at Chappellet Winery, Brad was talking to their winemaker at the time, Phillip Titus and casually mentioned that he was looking for a winemaker. Phillip introduced him to winemaker Charles McKahan. Charles knew at age 15 he wanted to pursue winemaking. He recalls, that of his friends, he was the only one who was interested in winemaking. He worked his first harvest at McManis Family Vineyards in Ripon in 2007 (California’s Central Valley). He graduated from California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo, California with a degree in fermentation science. While attending college he began to associate fine wines with Rhône varieties, so commonly grown on parts of California’s Central Coast, and worked harvests at Tolosa Vineyard near San Luis Obispo (same owners as Alpha Omega in Napa Valley) in 2009 and 2010.
After graduation in 2011 he knew he wanted to move to Napa Valley to pursue winemaking. His first job in the valley was as a harvest intern for Chappellet Winery where he eventually was promoted to Assistant Winemaker. At age 26 he became winemaker at William Harrison Winery in Rutherford. And in 2022 he was named one of the North Bay Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 for those under the age of 40 making valuable contributions in Napa, Marin or Sonoma counties. Stolen Owl was his first consulting client.
Brad’s first request was simple: produce wines that achieved phenological ripeness at the lowest possible alcohol levels while remaining approachable upon release and capable of improving with bottle age. Brad already had purchased plenty of Napa Valley heavyweights that needed 15-20 years of age before they were ready to drink. He did not want the Stolen Owl wines to emulate that style.
While submitting the 2019 Stolen Owl Cabernet Sauvignon for a review to Wine Enthusiasts Magazine, Mavis suggested he also submit the 2019 Stolen Owl Malbec. So he did. He was pleasantly surprised when he discovered they had assigned a 94 point score to this wine. He waited a few more weeks and was even more surprised when they gave the Malbec 96 points.
Soon after, a friend invited him to take a trip to Texas for a college football game; Brad remembers watching ESPN before the football game and then glancing at his email. A certain title caught his eye, “best Malbecs to drink now” – he was pleasantly surprised to see his Malbec listed as number one on the list. And then Wine Enthusiast published a list of the best California wines to drink in California; Stolen Owl was the featured Malbec. But the accolades did not stop there; they later published their International list of their top wines of the world; the Stolen Owl Malbec was listed as number 21. Pretty heady stuff. And all this exposure for a production of merely 50 cases.
Later one of Brad’s friends hosted a blind tasting of this Malbec against other producers. He called Brad one day and said he was sorry but the Stolen Owl Malbec came in second place. Brad asked him who the first place winner was; it was Chappellet.
Crystal Springs of Napa Valley
Crystal Springs of Napa Valley AVA is Napa Valley’s newest and one of its most distinctive sub-appellations. An application seeking federal recognition for the appellation was filed with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) in 2020 by Steve Burgess, the former proprietor of Burgess Cellars. After several years under review, the AVA received final approval on October 16, 2024. Its approval marked an important milestone for Napa Valley, becoming the region’s 17th sub-appellation and the first new Napa Valley AVA to be established since Coombsville received final approval in December 2011.
Among those involved early in the effort to establish the AVA was Ralph Hertelendy, whose hillside property between Deer Park and Angwin lies within the appellation’s boundaries. The creation of Crystal Springs of Napa Valley reflects a long-standing recognition among growers and vintners that this area possesses a unique combination of geography, climate, and growing conditions distinct from neighboring regions.
The Crystal Springs of Napa Valley AVA encompasses approximately 4,000 acres of primarily hillside terrain in the northeastern portion of Napa Valley. Vineyard elevations range from roughly 400 feet to 1,400 feet above sea level, contributing to significant variations in temperature, sun exposure, and growing conditions. Vineyards in this AVA generally do not require frost protection. The appellation includes approximately 30 commercial vineyards, most planted on slopes and rolling hillsides rather than valley-floor sites. These elevated locations often benefit from cooler temperatures, excellent drainage, and extended growing seasons that can help grapes achieve phenological ripeness while retaining freshness and acidity.
Named after the ‘crystal springs’ that flow in the area, the AVA highlights a landscape characterized by rugged terrain, forested hillsides, and vineyard sites that often produce wines noted for their structure, concentration, and sense of place.
Stolen Owl is one of the first producers to bottle and label a wine as from Crystal Springs of Napa Valley.
Select Wines
Malbec
The 2020 Stolen Owl Malbec, Knights Valley is deep ruby and opaque with amaranthine hues; the bouquet is both ripe and simultaneously fresh at 6 years post vintage. this wine smells dark fruited and floral with scents including lavender, lilacs, blackberry, boysenberry, dark cherry and Satsuma plum. And as it opens, it offers a note of dark cocoa powder. And also present is a light ferrous or minerally vein. This wine tastes like blackberry, dark cherry, boysenberry, dark mulberry and dark plum. With a non fruited note of dark chocolate and dark cocoa powder. The oak never dominates here, comfortably letting the fruit be the star of the show. The palate is as layered as the bouquet but avoids any sense of heaviness or excess extraction. The tannins are present, but they are so rounded and polished that their presence is seamlessly integrated into the finish. A light dusty and chalky character is felt lingering on the front of the palate. Minerally. At this age, this wine is showing in a sweet spot and if more California Malbec was expressed like this, this variety might give Cabernet Sauvignon a run for its money in terms of popularity. This wine was aged in 50% new and 50% used French oak barrels.
Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2023 Stolen Owl Cabernet Sauvignon, Crystal Springs of Napa Valley (100% varietal). This is the inaugural vintage from Stolen Owl Vineyard. This wine is deep ruby and completely opaque with purplish hues; deeply layered with both dark fruit and barrel influences, the aromatics are an expression of this special vintage in Napa Valley. The nose smells dark plum, blackberry, boysenberry, dark mulberry and dark cherry. Additionally, its scents are dark and savory including dried sage, cured meats, tobacco, old cedar and a light kiss of petrichor. There are some purple florals at play here, i.e. violets and lavender. We enjoy its olfactory profile, built upon varietal and site character rather than ‘contemporary Napa Valley ripeness’. Mouth filling in terms of both fruit and texture, its dark profile tastes like Satsuma plum, black cherry, boysenberry and dark mulberry. Minerally. Ferrous. Chalky. There is an abundance of tannins, but even in their youth they are not edgy or rough, rather they feel gravelly with persistent dusty and chalky textural character that outlasts the fruit on the finish. This wine is already approachable, or if you want it to be, it offers plenty of cerebral intrigue. And it is built to age – we would like to try this again in the next 10 to 15 years.
The 2021 Stolen Owl Cabernet Sauvignon, Yountville Napa Valley is deep ruby and nearly opaque; the nose is dark fruited supported by a gentle barrel influence. This wine smells ripe but never crosses into the territory of being overripe. Its fruit scents include blackberry, cherry pie, Santa Rosa plum, plum compote with additional layers of espresso, milk chocolate and cocoa powder. On the palate there are flavors of raspberry, cherry, boysenberry and dark mulberry and chalk. The palate shows brighter than perhaps the bouquet would indicate. This wine is superbly balanced with neither fruit, acidity or texture dominating. Rounded across the palate, the tannins are polished and rounded, providing structure without harshness. They sport a comfortable and gentle dusty hug on the finish. Pair this with a lighter cut of meat from the BBQ, perhaps a flank steak. This wine was aged in 75% new French oak and 25% once used oak.
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The wines are almost exclusively sold direct to consumer; Stolen Owl maintains virtually no retail presence, aside from occasional allocations offered through the wine club at ACME Fine Wines located in St. Helena. For more information or to purchase wines, visit: www.stolenowl.com
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