At the Winery: Caymus Vineyards

Caymus Vineyards
Rutherford, Napa Valley CA
Phone 707-967-3010

As you cruise up Route 29 through Rutherford and possibly pass all 500 or so residents you will see many well-known wineries and vineyards. If you are lucky enough to know about Caymus Vineyards then you will know to turn off the main drag and find the winery. Whether you cross the Pope Bridge built in the late 1800’s and take a right as we did or if you take a more direct route, once you get there, you will enjoy.

However, make sure you made your tasting reservations in advance. They recommend up to ten days prior, although we made ours one day in advance and they happen to have a couple spots open. The tasting is free and it will be memorable. It’s not the typical pile up of people at a counter waiting for others to finish.


At Caymus, you sit around a nice wood table with a total of 11 folks in addition to yourself and the wine pourer. The building isn’t where the history is. The history is in the family. However, the building is very nice. It was built about ten years ago and is wonderfully comfortable. Charlie Wagner grew up with wine in his family. His dad was a wine maker in Europe, I think France – but not for commercial product. Charlie was born in 1917 and will be celebrating his 89th birthday in July. His son, Chuck joined his father on what use to be a prune and walnut farm to make wine. So there it is, three generations of wine makers already.

Caymus was established in 1971 and the first harvest was in 1972. From then on out Charlie and Chuck were known as the “Father and Son Wine making Team.” Chuck is well educated in the art of wine making. I wish I could remember more…I’ll have to update this when I go back, because I will definitely be going back. On our tasting day, April Fool’s Day, we were blessed to be the last group to taste the 1997 Special Selection Cabernet as it will no longer be available at the free wine tasting. However, there are plenty of other great wines to taste. Our tasting went in this order:

• 1999 Sauvignon Blanc
• 1997 Pinot Noir Blanc
• 1999 Conundrum
• 1997 Special Selection Cabernet

The first selection, the Sauvignon Blanc was poured by our wonderful host Jan. As Jan was pouring she was enlightening us on the history of Charlie and Chuck, what use to be the prune and walnut farm, and where we currently were – on the 73-acre vineyard known as Caymus. Of those 73 acres, over 60 acres are actual vines and there is a special 15-acre section I’ll tell you about soon. The Sauvignon would go well with poultry, seafood, and anything with cream sauces. Of course it would…with its crisp acidity.

Moving into the second choice, we move into a more sentimental wine – one that has been on Charlie’s dinner table for many years. We were lucky enough to pick up a few bottles of what is “generally regarded as the first true Blanc de Noir made in California.” It’s not a Zin. Also, if you have had this before, you better get to the store because the 1997 is the last vintage of the Pinot Noir Blanc. The vineyard was pulled up due to phyloxera. This wine will go great with lunches, ham, barbeques, and brunch…Hey Greg; you should try this with a late breakfast.

The third selection was the 1999 Conundrum. Regardless of what other big wineries are trying to copy this mysterious or puzzling combination of five wines, they may not achieve the greatness of this wine. This is fantastic and you are limited to a twelve-bottle purchase. The five wines that make this up are Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Viognier, and Muscat. The Muscat should be the first to influence the taste on the pallet. I would recommend giving this a try. Jan suggests, and I agree, that this would go well with spicy dishes – maybe a little New Orleans style food…

Well, here we are…the moment we’ve all waited for – the tasting of the 1997 Special Selection Cabernet…A wine always made from fruit from the Caymus Vineyard…A wine made from 100% Cabernet…from a dry farmed 15 acre parcel on the 73 acre vineyard – where the vine will conserve energy to focus on the fruit, not the foliage…A wine aged for 30 months in French Oak…

One where the skins and the juice stay together for over a month, instead of a couple of weeks…Prior to actually tasting the wine, Jan poured everyone a sample and then took a moment to describe the importance of the toast and how everyone should look into the eyes of the person or people they are toasting, not at the glasses as most of us do. I thought that was a great touch. Once that was discussed, Jan made a toast and everyone tasted. I really enjoyed the rich, lush taste.

This is a wine worth drinking, but also worth aging for many years to come. If you are lucky enough to get a bottle from the 3,500 cases made, you may want to put it away for a special occasion…but then again, life is short, so maybe you want to drink it right now. Either way, you will enjoy it if you are a Cab fan. In ten years it will be a little less tannic but that’s about it. Keep it on the shelf for twenty years if you would like, but if you are going to keep it on the shelf that long maybe you should let someone else have the chance to get a few bottles that will drink it before they die…

As Jan suggested, this would go great (and again I have to agree) with subtle flavored meals such as prime rib – hold the horseradish, turkey, veal, steak with little seasoning. Once this wine has been through the 30 months of French Oak it only spends nine months in the bottle prior to release. If you can find this in a restaurant or at a store for at least $136 per bottle, try it…If you don’t like it, I’ll pay for it…Well, not really, but it sounded good.

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