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Jack Neal began his histoiy with the Napa Valley by working for several years as a wine grower in Rutherford. His passion for the vineyards and the winemaking process eventually led to Jack establishing his own vineyard management company in 1968.
Known then as Jack Neal Vineyard Management, the company began as a small, family run vineyard management business from his home in Rutherford, California. He, his wife, Athene, and their three children farmed several hundred acres of Napa Valley vineyards.
Mark Neal worked for his father's business since its inception and in 1994, shortly after Jack's passing, he assumed the position of President and Owner of Jack Neal & Son (JNS), Inc. JNS started implementing organic farming practices in 1984 and, today, the company farms over 85% of the vineyards under its management - most of which are planted on the hillsides of Napa Valley - organically. JNS currently manages vineyards for some of Napa's most prestigious and renowned wineries.
For four decades, it has been the Neal Family's mission to grow the highest quality wine grapes, which produce the ultra-premium wines world renowned to the Napa Valley. Mark Neal has diligently worked to complete the family dream of building a winery. He built Neal Family Vineyards with the intention of producing wines that exemplify the quality of the wine grapes grown by his family for many years. Wines produced by the Neal Family Vineyards winery are a tribute to his father, who taught Mark the importance of family and friends, a true appreciation of the vineyards and the winegrowing process, and the love of gre at fo o d p aire d with exc optional wine.
From the winery's conception, Mark Neal has envisioned the union of farming Napa's most prized appellations and using the fruit from those vineyards to produce Napa Valley and vineyard-designated wines. To accomplish that goal, Mark chose site-specific rootstocks and clones as the primary components of his vineyards. Mark also spent five years prior to the winery's construction looking for blocks within vineyard sites that best expressed the true nature of Napa Valley www »gMworfcaphoiogr»Phy com   grapes, with particular reference to the Cabernet Sauvignon grape, and selected superior blocks from vineyards located in Howell Mountain, Rutherford, Mount Veeder, Coombsville, Atlas Peak, and St. Helena. Many of the sites that were selected have been under vineyard management with Jack Neal and Son since 1968, with all grape sources for the Cabernet Sauvignon programs either owned or under vineyard management by Jack Neal & Son.
Mark and winemaker Gove Celio direct the farming practices, having refined their techniques for many years. They share the common goal of producing superior grapes required to make quality wines, sustainably so that future generations may do the same. They have also taken a leading role in organic farming, certifying all NFV wine program vineyards with the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF). Mark began making wine from the Family vineyard in Rutherford in 1997, and each new season he begins the quest for a perfect vintage, accomplished through the unification of earth, vine, climate and cellar.
