Christie Kiley on December 1, 2014 0 Comments It is the holiday season and you’re probably still stuffing yourself with last weeks’ Thanksgiving Turkey along with some guilt dancing around some of our heads today. ‘Tis the season and you know that just in a few more weeks you will happily do it all over again for Christmas and even New Year’s Eve. So no more wallowing, just wallow in the riches and gifts of the season and take it all in, because you know it will all be over in a flash and you will wish you might have savored it a bit more. Here is a wine that will assist in additional wallowing. It is chilly and some of us in North America are already getting pummeled with some pretty harsh winter weather. Put on your favorite slippers, pajamas and robe and light a fire if you have a fire place, grab a glass and just sit and savor. The Winery For many of us who love Napa Valley wines, Caymus is a very familiar name. But do you know about them and their family? In 1971, it started with a big question. Charlie Wagner and his wife Lorna wanted to ask their son, Chuck who had just graduated high school if he would like to join them in starting a winery. They already had the ranch in Napa, but if he declined, they would just sell it all and move off to Australia. Chuck accepted the offer and the rest, as they say, is history. Their first vintage came out in 1972 with 240 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon. The popularity and quality of the wine grew and today, they produce about sixty five thousand cases per year. Since the beginning, Caymus Vineyards has remained in the Wagner family. Chuck, Charlie and Lorna have continued to work together for more than thirty years building the family’s brand and now the Chuck’s two sons, Charlie and Joe and their daughter, Jenny, have also joined up with the family team. As any good wine, it all starts in the vineyard and the Wagner’s top priority it to grow top choice grapes on the 350 acre estate. The name, Caymus, comes from the land grant from Mexico that was given to George Yount (Hence, Yountville, in Napa Valley), called Rancho Caymus in 1836. The land covered much of the town of Rutherford and the surrounding areas. The Wine The Caymus line produces two Cabernet Sauvignon wine; the “Napa Valley” Cab and the “Special Selection”. Both of the wines’ aromatic, flavor profiles and complex notes stem (no pun intended, well, maybe.) from their vineyard growing practices. Richness in their wines are due to a special “hang time”. This is a technique that allows the fruit to hang on the vine a bit longer so as to develop more skin pigmentation which will later be imparted into the wine. The extra time also helps to develop suppler and fuller-mouthfeel wines and it also allows the tannins to mature. This technique sounds fairly simple, but there are risks involved. If an early winter were to settle into the valley, more than likely a vineyard would lose its entire crop. But sometimes the risk is worth the result and the results are lovely. This wine is their celebrated Cabernet representing the Napa Valley, but the 2012 vintage in particular is their 40th anniversary wine. So do join them in celebrating forty great years of successful wine-making and enjoy a bottle and maybe even set another aside for later. As you might expect from their vineyard practices, the color is a beautiful deep and inky purple, almost black. On the nose, it is rich of black cherry and vanilla bean ice cream, dried plum, late summer berries with notes of crispy pie dough. The mouthfeel will make your mouth water in supple and soft tannins and full-bodied red and dark fruits. Delicious to enjoy now over the holidays, remember, don’t forget to wallow and if you are a collector, this is one you could cellar for another fifteen years or so. More Wine Reviews: Las Perdices 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon St. Supery 2011 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Dolium Eco-Estate 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Storybook Mountain Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2009