Neyers Vineyards About Page
Philosophy
A Commitment To Excellence Influenced by French wine producers
Neyers Vineyards is located in the heart of the Napa Valley, but Bruce’s background with European wine importer Kermit Lynch has clearly influenced their wines. Many of the French producers that Bruce met and learned from practice non-invasive farming, make their wines naturally without the use of laboratory yeast or malo-lactic starter, and bottle their wines without fining or filtration. These “Old-World” practices result in wines that have the natural characteristics we seek to bring to our wines at Neyers Vineyards.
The production of outstanding wine is invariably accompanied by some degree of risk, and with the help of many of our French colleagues, we’ve learned how to minimize that risk, and make it work to our advantage.
Vineyards
On the Neyers sustainably farmed Conn Valley Ranch, grapes are grown using modern farming techniques that involve as little intervention as possible, allowing the small crop to mature slowly and ripen naturally. Over the years, we have developed relationships with a wide range of like-minded growers, and we are proud to recognize them on our labels.
Check out Bruce’s blog for more in-depth vineyard stories.
Winemaking
Our winemaking techniques are based upon old world wine practices, and employ
minimal intervention. We ferment our wines using only natural yeast, which frequently
results in a more complex wine. Our Chardonnay grapes are whole cluster pressed, the
juice racked directly into French oak barrels, and fermented naturally from contact with
the native, wild yeast trapped on the grape-skin’s surface. The finished wine is then
allowed to settle naturally over the next several months, before bottling. Our red wines
are similarly fermented using native, wild yeast, and the fermentation time on the skins
is extended to allow for additional extraction of flavor and color.
Aging
Our 60-gallon barrels are made in France to our specifications, using wood that is air-dried for three years. Our red wines are normally racked only three times, then bottled with neither fining nor filtration. Our Carneros Chardonnay bottling is given only a light, polish filtration. Our Chardonnay ‘304’ is bottled without completing malo-lactic fermentation, so it is normally sterile filtered.