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 Release Letter ~ Spring 2006 Hello to all and a happy beginning to 2006 from the Neal Family! As you read this letter, Margaretha and I are enjoying the newest addition to the Neal Family. No, we are not tasting one of our new vineyard designates (but we’ll get to that later) – we are celebrating the recent birth of our son, Jackson Mark Neal, born February 16, 2006. He will be called “Jack” after my father, who originally farmed the wonderful vineyards where we grow our grapes. Just when everyone thought we had settled into a nice routine, we thought we would mix it up a bit and add yet another member to the Neal Family household. While we eagerly prepared for our new arrival, the rest of the family spent many hours during harvest helping the winemaking team, Gove and Kelly, wash picking bins and dump pumice, with our young Zachary even driving the forklift and tractor. This letter comes to you after having finally gotten the 2005 wines down to bed. And what a year 2005 turned out to be! Mother Nature provided growers with one of the most challenging times in years, but Gove and Kelly tell me that these challenges will lead to some of the best wine in the cellar. Pumpovers were done during Thanksgiving and fermentations finally wrapped up around New Years. One of the many bright spots in 2005 was the certification of the Neal Family ranches to organic status by the California Certified Organic Farmers (“CCOF”). After a rigorous three-year inspection process, the fruit we crushed in 2005 and future vintages will be certified organically grown. Most of my ranches have been farmed utilizing organic farming practices from inception, but now we have received official certification from the CCOF. While this does not mean that we will be producing organic wines, it does speak to our commitment to producing the best Napa Valley has to offer. Like the finest restaurants looking for the best possible ingredients and food that is grown organically whenever possible, we strive to produce the finest wines using only the best wine-grapes available. For you, this means wine produced from the best natural fruit sources. The 2004 Zinfandel is a wonderful example. Only 600 cases were produced. After tweaking the recipe over the last couple years, we nailed the perfect vintage. This is a wonderfully rich and extracted Zinfandel. It has deep, dark fruit to accompany the moderately spicy, brambly Zin character, with subtle aromas of cherry, chocolate and vanilla. We have continued to add a small percentage of Petite Syrah (9%), and after aging 14 months in 45% new French and Hungarian oak barrels, the result is a lush, elegant mouth feel that complements the concentration of flavors and color. We are also offering the new 2003 Petite Syrahs. Once again, we have produced a very small quantity (one barrel) from the 1540 Vineyard, which is close the Howell Mountain Estate, and a small quantity (two barrels) of a new Napa Valley Petite Syrah. Both exhibit the intensely dark blueberry, fruit-driven colors for which the varietal is best known: teeth staining! The success of the 1540 vineyard has convinced me to remove some Cabernet vines on the Howell Mountain slopes and to re-plant with Petite Syrah vines. A few years down the road, and we will have a few more barrels to spread around. Ultimately, I think you will be happy that we planted the Petite Syrah vines! The 2003 Mixed Vineyard Designate sets that we had planned to offer at this time were just bottled, spending 26 months in new French oak. However, we have made the decision to hold them until fall. We are finding that there simply is no substitute for the bottle aging process, which greatly improves the character and approachability of these small lots that represent the best barrels of the vintage. Undoubtedly a tough financial decision, but one that we felt was best for the wines, for those of you who clearly enjoy it, and for our restaurant supporters who like to open them sooner rather than later. In the tradition of welcoming a new family member (beside our son, Jackson), we have also bottled our first vintage of 100% organically grown 2003 Rutherford Dust Vineyards 2 and 3. This 2003 is like the single vineyards – the best few barrels from my hometown. It was blended from 2 vineyards down the road from each other that have been in the family since 1980, and we are proud to see they stood out amongst all the other great barrels. The wine from these ranches produce a lovely, dark berry, Cabernet character and are intensely extracted for Rutherford fruit. In return for your patience and support, we will offer a small quantity of the 2002 Mixed Vineyard Designates from my library. As stated previously, we hold back a library of releases to offer those customers who may not have been able to purchase the releases in the past or to those of you who have enjoyed a certain wine and would like to restock. Please refer to the enclosed order form, which will indicate the releases that are available. If you have questions about the form, please call to clarify your selections, as each year we are required to return many forms due to incomplete information. Since our last Release Letter for the 2003 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, we have been pouring at tastings and dinners throughout California as well as in Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. We have made contact with old friends from the winery, and have also made some new friends. We always enjoy meeting our customers while on the road, enjoying great wines, delicious food and lively conversations. The following is our schedule for the next few months: March 7th-8th in Atlanta, Georgia If you would like to join us at one of our stops, please send Gove e-mail: gcc@nealvineyards.com. On a final note, May is quickly approaching and we wanted to extend an invitation to our 3rd Annual Vineyard Designate Dinner Party on the 6th of May. Once again, the party is in support of our children’s elementary school. We will be firing up the pizza oven (using French oak of course), grilling some terrific beef and having a preview tasting of the 2003 Vineyard Designates. After the dinner, we will clear a few cases out of our cellar and share some treasures. Should you be interested in attending, please send a check for $400 per couple, made payable to Pacific Union College Elementary School, to reserve your space. You may also call Margaretha for more information. As always, thank you for your continued support, and may 2006 bring you happiness in abundance and many reasons to raise your glasses! Mark and Margaretha Neal 
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