Had this wine w/ friends Sat night:
1. Neyers Syrah Cuvee d'Honneur NapaVlly (14.8%; HudsonVnyd) Winemaker: Ehren Jordan Oakville 2002: Very dark color w/ slight bricking; beautiful very roasted/Rhonish/smokey some c-c/black pepper very rich/lush intense Syrah/blackberry fairly toasty/oak quite complex nose; lightly tart very intense roasted/Rhonish/smokey intense ripe/blackberry/Syrah/boysenberry some c-c/black pepper rather complex flavor w/ fairly strong chewy tannins; very long/lingering very Rhonish/roasted finish that mimics flavor; starting to smooth out a bit but still a pretty rugged Syrah; not showing a lot of evolution since its release & not showing that beautiful perfume of a mature Rhone; a great example of a very Rhonish Calif Syrah but still a bruiser of a wine; may never outlive all the tannins.
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More firkkerblist from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. The Neyers Wnry is named after Bruce & Barbara Neyers. Bruce used to be the marketing guy at JosephPhelpsVnyds, which is where I first met him. Ehren Jordan was a tour guide there at the time anf went on to become the first winemaker at NeyersVnyds. He was one of the first to make really great Syrah in the NapaVlly. The "Honneur" is Ehren's tribute to Thierry Allemande/Auguste Clape/Noel Verset, who were early supports of Ehren in his Syrah effort.
I developed an interest in the first Neyers Syrahs because Ehren was buying the grapes from Al Rago at Que Syrah vnyd. They had a parting of company and Ehren switched to another c-c Syrah vnyd, Lee Hudson's vnyd in the Carneros, which is where this Syrah originated.
In 2017, Bruce partnered w/ Trinchero Estates for the Neyers wines. Bruce & Barbara are certainly the public faces of the Neyers operation, but I suspect Trinchero is calling the shots and Bruce is more of a figurehead. The winemaker is Thad Borchardt & he continues to guide the production at Neyers. Since Neyers dropped the Cuvee d'Honneur Syrah in 2012, I sort of lost interest in Neyers and have not followed the wines very closely, so have no idea what the current wines are like.
Tom