SISKIYOU COUNTY REGION: Both Neveu Vineyards and Shasta View Vineyards are the two most northern wineries in California, less than 20 miles south of the Oregon border. They are located just north of the little town of Montaque and almost directly east of Yreka on Ager Road. This is the land of grand views that can best be described as awesome, looking straight south across the Shasta Valley less than 30 miles towards that slumbering giant of a volcano, Mt Shasta. You can’t help but wonder what a site it must have been for the local Native Americans when it last erupted in1786.
Neveu Vineyards: The winery is located about three miles out of Montague heading east on Ager Road. They have a nice little outdoor tasting room with a view to die for. The winemaker is owner Ernie Neveu, a retired college biology professor who took classes at UC Davis and Oregon State College in Corvallis in viticulture. The winery currently produces Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Tempranillo, Zinfandel, Nebbiolo and Cabernet Sauvignon. We were not able to contact anyone when we were there to do some tasting, but were able to find two of their wines in a market in Mt. Shasta. The tasting was quite interesting; one of the wines was made from grapes grown in a more famous wine region, a Zin, and one was made from estate grapes, a Pinot Noir. We were far more impressed with the structure and flavors of the estate wine. We wished we had time to taste more and see if that trend continued with their other wines and see if the taste of place carried through to their other wines. The winery offers tastings and tours by appointment only.
Address: 3829 Ager Road, Montague, CA 96064
Phone: 530-459-3906
Shasta View: Just east of Nevue is Shasta View Vineyards. We were able to try their wines at a Mt Shasta restaurant, Strings, where they offered Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel, among others. We tried the Cabernet Sauvignon and found it to have a decent structure of tannin, good black fruit and a lot of pepper and good oak spice. It was a very nice dinner wine and we look forward to the opportunity to try more in the future. There is no tasting at the winery, but wines can be purchased in stores around the local area. Call the winery for more information.
Address: 5100 Ager Road, Montague, CA 96064.
Phone: 530-459-3619
Web Address: http://www.shastaviewvineyards.com
