Neal Family Vineyards

We loved our visit here this past weekend. We stopped by on the way to a spa thinking we would just grab a bottle of wine for a friend, but it turned out to be the highlight of our trip! Gove was great. He explained so much and really made the experience special. The grounds were also very beautiful, making the off-​the-​beaten path stop well worth it. I will definitely be returning and recommending it to friends!

My wife and I did a wine tour (by appointment) at Neal Family and had such an amazing time. We can’t say enough good things about Gove, their winemaker, who made the tour such an experience. He took us through the entire winemaking process and gave a fantastic tour of the facilities. Not to mention the wine was AMAZING. Such a great story of the Neal family. I’d highly recommend scheduling a tour and trying their wine!

Well, I had a special feeling before even arriving at Neal. My family has always treated Neal wine as the ‘special’ wine we serve at big family events, or to celebrate good news.
The tasting did not disappoint — we booked a private tasting, so we were one on one (or my family on one) with one of the wine makers. He talked us through each of the wines we tried (they are known for their Cabs, so that’s where he focused, but he did even have a white for us to try!), and was able to answer all of our questions. At no point did we feel rushed, and each wine we tasted was poured from a glass he just corked in front of us.
The groups are beautiful, and the owner lives on top of the hill of the vineyard. We took to taking some photos after our hour or so in the tasting room.
No shop, no touristy souvenirs really (except for corkscrews!), but a great authentic winery, with delicious Cabs.

Great cabs, no complaints. I found their ’05 cabs amazing! Make an appointment and go visit, you will not regret!

We had a great time at Neal– they snuck us in at the last minute and we hung out with Gove. Gove was a wealth of knowledge and kept us all entertained throughout our tasting, which was delicious!!! The wines were great and the view up to the vineyard was phenomenal. I highly recommend taking the trek up to the grounds for a tasting!

This winery will satisfy even the most discerning! Make sure that you try their Howell Mountain varietal it truly is amazing.

All around amazing.
Wines speak for themselves…
We were graced to have a personal 3-​hour adventure & tour.

Off the beaten path. Best cabernet in the region… worth every penny.

The tasting room is only by appointment, and the location is quite far off the beaten path, but the wine is worth the trip. The tasting area is a bar in a foyer run by the owner of the vineyard. It’s not fancy, but if you like Howell Mountain wines, this is a great place to taste.

This was one of our favorite spots in our trip to Napa a few years ago. Mark and Gove are fantastic hosts, and really are experts at their craft. Mark’s family has been farming in the Valley for years and really understands vineyards and the weather in Napa. They make some wonderful mountaintop fruit wines, particularly Cab and Zin. They’re also a great winery in that they don’t up their prices in huge increments each year. The tour is very educational and the wines exceptional.

Mark, the winemaker, knows Napa, and he knows wine. Trust me. You should make an appointment to taste here. He was educational, accomodating, and downright f’ing hilarious… the last place we tasted on a great day in the Napa Valley. I’ll be ordering some wine come November when the weather is appropriate, because he doesn’t ship it otherwise… why? cuz that would be f’ing pointless. Ha Ha. Thanks Mark. Also, no charge for tasting… which is the way it should be.

We first tasted Neal Family Cab. at the recommendation of a sommelier @ SW Steakhouse in the Wynn hotel in LV. We said then that someday we would look them up.
I had set-​up an appt. 2 months in advance via their website. The owner himself got back to me and said the time we would like (Thurs. @ noon), would be perfect. We drove from the other side of the Valley up the east side through some beautiful scenic areas. We arrived at the end of a road, and drove through the vineyard to an empty parking lot. We weren’t sure there would be anyone to meet us. We went left to the larger building and opened the imposing wooden doors. We peered in and found only one person coming through the glass doors from the wine cave. We thought maybe just a regular staff member. No, his name was Gove, he was the actual winemaker, subbing-​in for the owner whom had other business to attend to.
We have since reflected how privileged we were to end our tour of Napa with such a personal tasting and tour. We learned small details in the process that Neal Family has taken over the years, to reach the size of operation they have become today. Very informative.
It was all we could have hoped for when we planned our visit to Napa a year previously.
Thanks Gove! Alex and Tracy from Toronto

originally posted on
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Date: December 19, 2004
Winery: Neal Family Vineyards
Winemaker: Gove Celio
Tasting: Appointments Only
Contact: Mark Neal — 707.965.2800
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Disclaimer: This is the last set of organized notes I can find prior to my employment at Neal Family Vineyards, which took place in May, 2005.
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Bottling day up on Howell Mountain for the long anticipated 2002 Vineyard Designates. All those beautiful large format bottles CHICO dreams about, 1.5L, 3.0L and 6.0L.
There will be a total of six vineyard designates available for 2002. The only one I did not taste today is the 1540 bottling, which is from a vineyard on Howell Mountain but carries Napa Valley appellation as it’s right below the altitude cut-​off line.
For Napa Cabernet lovers out there, these 2002 release will be a good way to get acclimated with the various appellations in the valley. Six 100% Cabernet Sauvingnon from six different vineyards all with it’s own distinct personality. Terrior expression at it’s best.
2002 Rutherford — Wykoff Vineyard
Truck loads of ripe bing cherry explodes from the glass. Coffee grounds, black cherries and blackberries weaved together with stream of mineral running throught to give the wine freshness and balance. Ripe sweet silky tannin that’s well integrated and great mid-​palate concentration. An amazing combination of power and grace. The most polished wine in the lineup.
2002 One Lane Bridge — Mt. Veeder
Dark purple in color. Fragrant dark fruits on the nose. Blueberries laced with mint and cigar spice on the palate with a touch of raw steak. Firm tannin, strong mid-​palate, medium finish. The most reserved of the bunch.
2002 Second Chance Vineyard — Atlas Peak
Deep, jammy black fruits rises from the glass. Waves of sweet ripe black cherries and blackberries attacks the palate. Firm and slightly chalky tannin. Long lingering finish of cocoa powder. A huge and powerful wine, flamboyant is the word.
2002 Chafen Vineyard — Crystal Springs North Fork
Medium dark fruits on the nose. Initial sweetness of cherries and raspberries hits the tip of the tongue followed by walls of mouth coating tannin. The most tannic of the bunch ever since the beginning. Needs time to soften up the tannin to release the medium dark cherries hidden in the background. Patience required.
2002 Howell Mountain Estate
Aromatic black cherries on the nose. Layers of medium-​dark fruits laced with oolong tea spice and pine cone. Firm gripping and stroing long finish. Another wine that requires to be layed down for at least five years.