Wine maker notes

95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Merlot, both grown organically in the highest elevation blocks on our Conn Valley Ranch, just east of St. Helena. It’s difficult to be objective about this wine since it’s the culmination of a project that began in 1992, when we first looked at this neighboring property as a future Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard site. A year later we bought the land, and then spent weeks walking the perimeter, calculating the slope and estimating the plantable acreage. We dug test holes and had soil analyses run, along with the usual percolation tests. The preliminary report indicated that given the soil mix of easily fractured basalt underlain by gravel, a Southern exposure, and the correct nutrient level, the parcel had the potential to be a source of remarkable Cabernet Sauvignon. The following year it was cleared of brush, cross-ripped, and planed and engineered for drain tiles. It was then laid out for the tight spacing traditional in Bordeaux and planted with two selections of low-yielding rootstock. A year later, the plants were budded to Cabernet Sauvignon. In 1997 and 1998, the vines were trained up the stakes and the vertical shoots positioned. In 2000 and 2001 we pinched off the small fruit clusters to further strengthen the root system. In 2002, the now almost 10 year-old vines produced our first Neyers Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon, 210 cases of strikingly attractive wine. The 2003 crop was slightly larger, as expected, and the quality is better still. The wine is darker, more aromatic and richer than the previous year. It was also surprisingly pleasant to drink throughout its youth, a sign that generally indicates a wine of great promise. No expense was spared in the development of the vineyard, and nothing has been left to chance in the winemaking. The results are impressive.