Wagner Family Of Wine: Caymus, Belle Glos, Conundrum, Meiomi, Mer Soleil

One place that I was certain to visit during my harvest trip was Caymus Vineyards.  As everyone knows, Caymus produces some fantastic wines, especially their Special  Selection Cabernet’s. What you might not have known is that Caymus is a family owned and operated winery and has been making wines since 1915 and growing grapes since the 1960′s. In spite of who they and the remarkable wines they make, they are some of the most unpretentious, humble group of people in Napa!

Additionally, Chuck Wagner’s two sons are 5th generation winemakers at Caymus each contributing their unique skills and knowledge to additional labels under the Caymus brand. Actually, very few people realize that Caymus produces five different labels. While Chuck Wagner oversees all the grape growing and winemaking at Caymus, his son Joe Wagner is the winemaker for Belle Glos and Meiomi, while Charlie Wagner is the winemaker for Meir Soleil.  Harvest Duhig a female and a farmer, is also a winemaker that works with Chuck Wagner on the Caymus Cabernet’s. Jon Bolta is the winemaker for Conundrum! Yes, I said that right, Caymus produces the fantastic Conundrum label. At the end of the day they were collaboratively on all these projects to make some of the best wines under bottle. You can learn all about the Caymus brands, follow harvest and watch videos at their newly launched site: WagnerFamilyOfWine.com.

Something I’ve really been paying a lot of attention to lately is “grape to bottle wine”. With over 75,000 wines being produced world wide, it is becoming more and more important to read your labels and ask more question about the wine your drinking. If 90% of wines quality comes from the vineyard, then everything starts with the grape. The quality of the vineyard and the grapes will determine the quality of the wine. If the vineyard you are working from is of poor quality, it will produce poor tasting grapes and no matter how skilled a farmer or winemaker you are, you can’t infuse the grapes with those needed flavors and unique characteristics.

When a winemaker is also the farmer, they have control from grape to bottle. For me, I want to know what is in my wine and what farming practices are used to create my favorite wines and I’m really looking for a sense of terrior or place. Like Matt Kramer of Wine Spectator says in his article What Do You Believe:

If there’s a more powerful phrase on a wine label than ‘Grown, Produced and Bottled’ I don’t know what it is. Now, I’m not saying that a wine made by the person who grew the grapes is invariably more superior. But I do think the odds of finding something special are in your favor if you seek out such wines. Most important, the odds are overwhelmingly favorable that if you like this year’s wine, you’ll find next year’s version equally rewarding, vintage permitting. In an era where we see more wines sold under brand names or made from purchased grapes than ever before, it comes down to who are you gonna believe: the brand or the land? I believe in the latter. ‘Grown, Produced and Bottled” says what I think is most important.

That is what your going to get with Caymus wines! Also, they have a great tasting room and beautiful grounds to picnic and taste through their wines. The staff is particularly friendly as well.