Neyers Vineyards Bruce's Journal
Barbara’s Korean Stir-Fry Chicken Dish
By Bruce Neyers
Friday 19th December, 2025
Barbara’s Korean Dish – With a perfect Cabernet Sauvignon pairing
Barbara and I lived in Korea for 13 months while I was stationed there as an army Lieutenant, and I think even she was surprised at the attraction she developed for Korean food. Most of my meals were courtesy of the army, but Barbara lived in Chunchon where she established many friendships through her teaching work. She was a frequent guest at meals hosted by local citizens – even the mayor’s wife cooked for her once — so I wasn’t surprised when she recently proposed making a stir-fry chicken dish based on a Korean marinade. After shopping for ingredients and experimenting in the kitchen, she announced that she was ready for a test-run. She calls her dish Korean Chicken Stir Fry, and the key is a marinade that includes maple syrup, apple juice, and Gochujang, a chili-based paste popular in Korea. We tried it with some friends, and it was a great success. We drank an assortment of Cabernet Sauvignon bottlings: 1995 Mayacamas, 2000 Ch. Duhart-Milon, and the 2019 Neyers Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. This Neyers bottling is different from our Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Neyers Ranch,’ as it comes from purchased grapes grown on Ron Smith’s Vineyard in Oak Knoll, an AVA just south of Stag’s Leap that stretches from the western foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains east to the Silverado Trail. The AVA begins just north of the Napa city limit, and is closer to the Bay and colder than the Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards of the upper valley. The grapes enjoy a longer ‘Hang Time’ which is known to add flavor. We bought grapes from this region when I worked for Joe Phelps, and I learned that the soils were especially interesting on the eastern reaches, around Ron’s parcel. For the 2019, we harvested the grapes on October 30, about as late as we’ve picked in years.
My interest in our Neyers 2019 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon was heightened by a review I recently encountered, written by Jonathan Cristaldi in ‘The Somm Journal’:
“Neyers Vineyards’ Bruce Neyers, his wife Barbara (a former Chez Panisse chef) and winemaker Tadeo Borchardt work in tandem to craft beautifully structured, delicious Napa Valley Cabernet wines. This 2019 is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon and offers heady oak spices, blackberry fruit, and tobacco notes. A powerful wine on entry, revealing tart red berry fruit intertwined with ripe blackberry, and laced with dark chocolate notes. Medium to full-bodied with plenty of power and concentration framed by a bright, crisp acid freshness and a finish marked by earth and more fragrant tobacco notes. 93 POINTS”
Several years ago I was invited to a birthday lunch for an acquaintance who owned a successful Asian-themed restaurant in San Francisco. At one point, she confided in me that she thought Cabernet Sauvignon was the best wine choice for most Asian food. This proved to be good advice for Barbara’s foray into Korean Cuisine. All three of the wines we tasted were delicious with our meal, and I’m eager for a return trip.
Korean Chicken Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1¼ pounds boneless, skinless chicken
- ¼ cup apple juice
- 1 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sparking water
- 1 to 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 1-2 tablespoons Gochujang paste, depending on taste (only moderately spicy)
- 1 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced lengthwise
- 4 to 6 scallions, cut crosswise into 3-inch pieces
- 5 tablespoons of olive oil
- Kosher Salt and fresh ground black pepper
- Steamed rice
- Lime wedges
Preparation
- Cut chicken breasts crosswise into ½-inch thick slices.
- Transfer chicken to a bowl and add apple juice, soy sauce, water, maple syrup, sesame oil, Gochujang paste, ginger and scallions. Combine the ingredients and marinate in a sealed bowl for 10 minutes at room temperature. It can marinate up to 2 days in the refrigerator.
- Using a slotted spoon, remove chicken and scallions from the marinade, and set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a cast iron skillet, add chicken and scallions, and season lightly with salt and pepper.
- Cook the chicken and scallions until the chicken is cooked through and both the chicken and scallion pieces are golden brown.
- Serve with the cooked rice along with lime wedges.
This week we began our final stage of individual vine care in our Conn Valley ranch vineyards. In this photo, a crew member carefully works on one vine at a time — removing the low shoots called ‘suckers’, snipping the large basal leaves which contain higher levels of Potassium, cutting off lateral shoot growth from existing shoots, tucking long shoots back under the wire, and cutting off the tips of shoots to stop growth. Each of these highly skilled workers on the Trinchero Estates vineyard team has many years of experience in vine care. It requires enormous attention to detail, and a strong sense of focus. The work is being done here on the east-facing side of the vine, leaving more vegetation on the west-facing side, as that bears the brunt of the warmer afternoon sun.
Barbara felt her initial preparation of the dish lacked spiciness. The manager of our distributor in Hawaii, Warren Shon, knows a thing or two about Korean food, and he suggested she try a traditional Korean chili condiment, Gochujang paste. She found a bottle at our local market here in Saint Helena, and the dish was a perfect match for our trio of Cabernet Sauvignon bottlings.
Neyers Vineyards 2019 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon label
There are few animals around our neighborhood as beautiful as a Great Blue Heron. Sometimes they even come by the house for a swim.
Photo by Lizzie Neyers Mix
