Neyers Vineyards Bruce's Journal
Our Left Bank Red
By Bruce Neyers
Saturday 22nd April, 2023
Left Bank Red – Our blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot
Over the years, I’ve come to admire James Suckling as much for his understanding of fine wines as for his gift as a writer. He devoted some attention to our 2020 Left Bank Red in a recent review, and I enjoyed reading his copy as much as I appreciated his succinct observations. Here’s what he had to say:
Neyers Vineyards 2020 Left Bank Red
A full-bodied red with aromas of blackcurrants, blueberries, cassis, bay leaves and olives. Firm tannins here, with excellent balance and freshness too. Drink or hold. 90 POINTS – James Suckling
We’ve devoted much of the last decade to our work on this blend made from grapes grown on the left bank of Conn Creek as it flows through our Conn Valley Ranch on its way to Lake Hennessey. After several dry years, it’s especially comforting to see both Conn Creek and Lake Hennessey full of water now! As troublesome as this year’s heavy rains have been to many, I’m sure we’ll all appreciate the water this summer.
The two vineyards that produce the grapes for our Left Bank Red are planted in deep gravel deposits, and at times it almost seems as if I can taste that stony minerality in the finished wine. There’s plenty of fruit here as well, and the striking combination of fresh raspberry and cherries is made all the more attractive by the underlying earthy component. Winemaker Tadeo Borchardt ages the wine for 14 months in new and used 60-gallon French oak barrels, then bottles the wine without fining or filtration, so we enjoy a wide range of flavors, just as nature intended.
The view looking south and slightly east across the newly pruned Cabernet Sauvignon vines in ‘Toni’s Block’, named after our long-time co-worker and dear friend, Toni Paz. The tree line in the near distance marks the left bank of Conn Creek, and the start of the gravel deposit that makes this site so well-suited for grapevines.
Conn Creek is so swollen with water now after our almost 40-inches of rain, that water levels are nearing the top of the banks. The metal pole on the right houses the gauge used to measure the flow of water into the Lake Hennessey reservoir.
Lake Hennessey is now full, so excess water flows out the spillway in dramatic fashion, creating a plume more than ten-feet high! That excess water will now flow into the Napa River, and from there into San Francisco Bay.
Originally, we planned to call this simply ‘Red Table Wine’, and our friend Ed Koren designed the label for it using a ‘Table’ as the center of the action. He couldn’t help adding a couple of his famously hairy, large-beaked creatures, and I’ve often thought that the drawing depicted one of the many times I’ve toasted him over the years.
