WTN: Caymus vertical '90 to '00, plus others

[Jenise]

A friend hosted a vertical of Caymus cabernets last night. The wines spanned 1990 to 2000. Most were from his cellar, but the holes were filled by Caymus who not only supplied the missing wines, they sent a rep and more bottles to show off some new releases. It was an extremely interesting evening. About 20 guests partook, and it's pretty fair to say that all of us were fans of early Caymus and almost none of us are fans of modern Caymus (no one was rude, but I don't think the rep quite expected the low levels of excitement about the latter).

The while-you-mingle opener was three bottles of this:

2014 Caymus Conundrum White
Better than usual acidity (for Caymus) on this '14 lends some brightness of the floral perfume of the viognier and catty spice of the muscat, however, the Conundrum's typical RS still makes it a hard sell for Euro palates like this group's and only two bottles got drunk. Almost anything else would have been drained.

Then we sat down to the 1st flight of three.

1990 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon
Dilly, American oak nose with cherry fruit and a little fresh sawdust. Lightest color of the flight and obviously mature, but there was still that something there that reminded me of why I fell for Caymus in this very vintage all those years ago. Very pleasant.

1991 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon
Earthy, darkest color of the flight, chocolate and plums. Holding up well.

1992 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon
Foresty nose, seemingly less ripe (the 12.5% abv is lower than the previous two years by half a percent), but complex with admirably firm fruit. Best of flight for my table (which included Bill Spohn).

Second flight:

1993 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon
This is the vintage in which no SS was made, instead the declassified SS fruit ended up in the straight Napa. Bright and cedary with faint violets. Finish is a bit clipped and the fruit is less here than in the others but it's the driest of all so far and my anti-sweet palate found that appealing.

1994 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon
Great nose with chocolate and plums on the palate. Satisfying with good length on the finish. A favorite all-around.

1995 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon
Ripest of the six so far, with a dirty earthiness that doesn't integrate with the cedar and tobacco notes. Disjointed, grumpy. (An unusual vintage for Caymus, this contained 17% cab franc).

3rd flight:

1996 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon
Swampy nose with soy sauce, tertiary and dirty on the palate. This bottle has not aged gracefully. Easily the worst of the old wines.

1997 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon
Beautifully mature and well balanced; tangy and resolved with a delightful hint of eucalyptus for extra interest. WOTN for me and just about everyone.

1998 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon
We're now up to 14.3% alcohol. Heavy, jammy fruit with an unctiously sweet finish interrupted only by a faint whiff of dust and beef boullion. Very surprised at this kind of showing from a vintage '98.

Flight #4:

1999 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon
Another group favorite. Though fairly extracted, this has layers of complexity and the result is both charming and elegant. Well-stored bottles (this pristeen example came from Caymus' own cellar) have a good future ahead--this one should go 2025, easy.

2000 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon
Not worn out but perhaps a bit tired, with reticent fruit, somewhat lighter body and drying tannins.

2014 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon
Nose of banana taffy and bubble gum which, I presume, would blow off if the wine were decanted in advance which this wasn't. Rich and gobby with blueberry and cassis notes swimming in the oak. I didn't care for it as I am not a fan of the modern Caymus style, but I'll give it this: underneath the gobs there's actually evidence of more acidity and structure than the monster '12 (which I own, to my deep regret).

And then these:

2012 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon Special Selection
Big, dark, opaque, super-rich, almost thick on the palate, mouth-coating, viscuous, low acid. Gobby black and blue fruit with vanilla are accented with the SS's trademark violets and wrapped in velvet tannins. This will have massive appeal to many, but I'm never going to be a fan.

NV Wagner Family of Wines Red Schooner Voyage 3 Argentina Malbec Blend
So the Wagners are buying fruit in Mendoza then shipping it to Napa on dry ice (it takes a week) for making wine in early summer when presses etc are otherwise idle. Clever. The wine's rich and expansive and as such totally in synch with modern Caymus' house style, but this has one particularly big flaw for my palate: no character, no sense of place. It's like those machine-made espressos at McDonalds that smooths all the edges out of coffee.

2012 Emmolo Merlot Napa Valley
The next generation makes wine: Jenny Wagner is doing this label (taken from a grandmother's maiden name) which for now consists of a merlot and a sauvignon blanc. This is a seamless and substantive drop for those who love plush, fruit-driven new world wines. But it still drinks like a sweet cocktail, this isn't a food wine. Interestingly the rep cooed that the Sauvignon Blanc is very Sancerre-like. I have to admit incredulity, being that there is nothing about any of the Caymus wines that is even the slightest bit European.

thank you for the great notes and trip down memory lane..I loved Caymus cabs 89-1994, stopped buying after the 94 tho I have tasted a few since then..and I strongly dislike Conundrum, a truly insipid white wine

[Jenise]

You know what surprised the most, Jon? How different the older wines were from each other. Literally, no two alike. The 97 and 94 mirrored each other slightly, but beyond those, it was not the least bit apparent that we were drinking different years of the same wine.

Read the rather horrific interview with a younger Wagner in the Chron in which he dismissed "wine nerd" concepts like "vintage" and "vineyard". It's all about "The Brand". The Wagners are basically making Pepsi now.

The old basic Caymus cabs aged nicely too..I remember loading up on the 93, having been told that the fruit designated for the SS bottling was going to the regular bottling instead..Drank my last bottle of the 93 in 2013. Very nice solid wines and good value as well, nothing over the top about them..Things have changed since then

Notes from a vertical of Caymus Cabernet (regular bottling)

2015 Conundrum – I have always considered this to be an odd but pleasant wine. Made from Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Muscat Canelli, and Viognier, one wonders what each contributes, aside from the obvious muscat in the nose and sauv blanc acidity….Any way, a pleasant white.

1990 – still an attractive wine, with a quite sweet currant nose sweet finish and slight astringency that didn’t reach the level of being a flaw. Tired now so drink up.

1991 – very presentable with another slightly less sweet nose, a softer more mellow wine in good shape.

1992 – for me the best of this flight – lower alcohol, soft tannins, good fruit and less ripe all round.

1993 - a dill American oak nose, OK fruit, but green and a lot of terminal acidity, and it faded quickly at the end. Non optimal bottle, or just that the vintage is now on the downside of development? Some liked it. I didn’t.

1994 – nutty nose with cocoa and dark fruit, a well built wine not marred by excessive sweetness. Liked this one.

1995 – unlike the preceding wine, I think this one was well into senescence and that was reflected in the confused palate and awkward finish.

1996 - soy nose and oxidized wine

1997 – back in form with this one. Mint nose good fruit and excellent balance. One of the best of the event.

1998 – raspberry jam nose overly sweet in the mouth and a herald of the modern idiom (see notes on the 2014)? Not my style of wine.

1999 – after the 98 this nose was very welcome. It showed some nicely done complexity in the nose and better balance than previous wines – my favourite of the flight.

2000 – darker fruit and vanilla after much swirling, not over the top, but not anything that would make me want to run out and buy any (which I wouldn’t anyway given the state of development)

2014 – a chocolate syrup, banana, and oak milkshake that is the antithesis of the sort of wine I enjoy. I’m sure many love this sort of overly extracted wine.

2012 Special Selection – dark purple, and to my delight, a moderate nose with cocoa and blueberry. A bit jammy in the mouth and sweet long finish. If forced to take this or the 2014, I’d take this, but I wouldn’t buy either.

2013 Emmelo Merlot – medium force sweet nose really sweet entry medium length and you guessed it, sweet finish. You can probably also guess how much I liked this one.

Wagner Family Red Schooner Voyage 3 – actually a 2012 and didn’t catch what the schooner shtick was in aid of, I think just an advertising gimmick. By shipping up Argentine grown Malbec they have managed to produce another sweet wine in both nose and palate that has absolutely no sense of place – an international wine like many Italian IGTs – could have been made anywhere from grapes from anywhere.

Guess I must have been drinking too many mature clarets lately, but my tolerance level for this sort of wine was lower than usual. Great to have the opportunity to have a tasting like this, though.

FWIW, I have the earliest flight, 1990, 1991, and 1992 all in the Special Selection. I may stage a vertical just to compare them to the regular some time soon.

[Jenise]

Bill, good notes, and as expected we agreed pretty much down the line.

A thought about the Schooner thing: by not committing to a vintage date, they can mix and match, including blending leftover lots of California juice, without stepping afoul of regs. Maybe?

So far it just looks like a gimmick - from their site:

You won’t find a vintage date – each vintage will be known by the voyage from which it was produced.

OTOH, their Red Wine of the World thing will allow them to select different grape sources (if not different vintages) from all over the world. Keep your eyes peeled for a German Tannat......

Any thoughts on the ecological impact of the Schooner? It also strikesvme as fairly imperialistic given the price Wagner fetches for it.

[Jenise]

Gwen, welcome! From the transportation aspect, I doubt there's any greater ecological impact on shipping grapes north from the southern hemisphere than shipping completed bottles of wine, which of course is done all the time from not just South America but Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. Wine is a world-wide commodity now.