Bally Keal Estate · Blocks B and C
2020 Bally Keal Estate B&C Block Clone 337 Cabernet Sauvignon, Suisun Valley, California
A place on your wine list
Joe Cassidy's 2020 Suisun Valley Clone 337 Cabernet from Blocks B and C. Eighteen months with 30 percent French oak. Cassis and calm tannin.
Winery SRP $40 per bottle
Why this bottle belongs on the list
Two selling points.
Then the market.
Joe Cassidy's Irish welcome, labeled founder, not winemaker of 2020.
Joe arrived from County Clare in 1976 and built an 80-acre Suisun Valley estate with vineyards, a winery, brewery, distillery, and gathering rooms. The greeting is Cead Mile Failte. He is the founder. Adrian Guerrero joined as winemaker and brewer in 2024. Guerrero did not make this 2020.
Blocks B and C, Clone 337, 18 months, 30 percent French oak.
This 2020 is 100 percent estate Cabernet Sauvignon from Blocks B and C, planted to Clone 337. Eighteen months with 30 percent French oak. Fruit first, oak as seasoning. The estate planting is 44 acres of Clone 337. Heritage Vine is a different wine: Clone 7 from Blocks A and B. Suisun Valley, where the west wind blows, sits against the Vaca range and cools with delta air.
The buyer's perspective
What the guest
hears first.
Cassis and boysenberry first, then red raspberry and black cherry, fine tannin, a long, gently sweet oak finish. Staff can sell it in one sentence: Bally Keal 2020 Clone 337, Blocks B and C, pour it with a stuffed burger. Trade $16.50 a bottle, $198 the twelve-bottle case.
Founder's corner
County Clare · Suisun Valley · Cead Mile Failte
Joe
Cassidy
Joe arrived from County Clare in 1976 with a few tools on his belt. He delivered pizzas for an Irish cousin in San Francisco, then built a residential development firm in the Bay Area. The estate in Suisun Valley is the house he wanted guests to walk into: winery, brewery, distillery, and gathering rooms on eighty acres.
The name is Gaelic. Bally from baile na, place of. Keal for villages or farmsteads. The greeting over the door is Cead Mile Failte, one hundred thousand welcomes. Ogham stones carved in Ireland to spell Bally Keal sit on the grounds and on the label.
The photograph on this page is Joe at the estate doors, hard hat on, Century Builders polo. He is the founder. He is not presented as the winemaker of the 2020 or 2021 Cabernet. Adrian Guerrero joined that cellar in 2024.
The house
Owner.
Winemaker.
The rows.
Joe Cassidy
County Clare, 1976. He built the 80-acre Suisun Valley estate as a place of farmsteads. The greeting is Cead Mile Failte, one hundred thousand welcomes.
Adrian Guerrero
Vacaville native. Fresno State enology. Mentored by Jeff Cohn at Rockpile, Silver Eagle, and Gary's Vineyard. Joined Bally Keal as winemaker and brewer in 2024.
Estate vineyards
Sixty-two acres of Cabernet, organically farmed, biodiesel tractors, Fish Friendly Farming. The rows behind the house.
The estate
Clone 337 from Blocks B and C, aged 18 months.
Bally Keal occupies eighty acres in Suisun Valley, an AVA from 27 December 1982. The 2020 Estate Cabernet is 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon from Blocks B and C, Clone 337. Eighteen months with 30 percent French oak. The house farms Cabernet organically, with biodiesel tractors, Fish Friendly Farming, on-site compost, and a 100,000-watt solar array.
Clone 337 is this cuvee. Heritage Vine is Clone 7 from Blocks A and B and more than 30-year-old vines. Do not sell the 2020 Estate as the heritage bottling. Warm days, delta wind, alluvial soils.
The 2020 tasting you sell: dark cassis and black cherry, red raspberry, fine tannin, a long oak-shaped finish. Serve 60 to 64 F. About 30 minutes of air. A Juicy Lucy or a short rib.
2020 in the glass
Dark cassis.
Black cherry.
Fine tannin and oak.
The 2020 is 100 percent estate Cabernet Sauvignon from Blocks B and C, Clone 337. Cassis and boysenberry lead, with red raspberry and black cherry giving a broader, lifted range. Full-bodied Cabernet weight is held by fine, balanced tannin rather than hard edges. Eighteen months with 30 percent French oak adds a long, gently sweet finish while leaving the fruit in front. That elevage is the 2020 record. Do not paste the 2021 winery paragraph over it. Serve 60 to 64 F. About 30 minutes of air.
Menu and service
Built for a serious table.
- Korean Juicy Lucy
- Cabernet-braised short ribs
- Cracked-pepper ribeye
Decant about 30 minutes. Serve around 60 to 64 F in a generous Cabernet stem.
Staff pairing clip
Gordon Ramsay cooks a Korean Juicy Lucy
The tableside introduction
“This is Bally Keal's 2020 Estate Cabernet, Blocks B and C, Clone 337, 18 months with 30 percent French oak. Joe Cassidy's Suisun Valley house. Pour it with a Juicy Lucy.”
Ready for your team
Put the story to work.
Shelf talker
A concise bottle story for guest-facing displays. No trade price.
Download PDFServer card
The pitch, menu matches, and service notes in a compact format.
Download PDFFull trade sheet
Joe Cassidy, Blocks B and C, the 2020 tasting, pairing clip, and the case offer.
Download PDFOrder the case
Put the 2020 Clone 337 on the list.
Estate Cabernet from Blocks B and C. Trade $16.50 a bottle, $198 the twelve-bottle case, one-case minimum.
