Chateau St. Jean 45th Edition Cabernet

Chateau St. Jean Cabernet Sauvignon 45th Anniversary Special Edition

Being somewhat of a sentimentalist, I couldn't resist opting for this 45th Anniversary Special Edition Reserve Chateau St Jean Cabernet Sauvignon, being our 45th anniversary year as well. Another anniversary year wine, the rebrand of Caymus Estate Napa Cab also happens to coincide with our anniversary year.

We've written often in these pages about Chateau St. Jean being one of the crown jewels of Sonoma. It is one of our regular chateau estate tastings in our visits to the Sonoma region.

This special 45th Anniversary Special Edition release celebrates their "legacy of producing terroir driven wines from across the renowned region. Sourced from Alexander Valley, this Cabernet Sauvignon is an elegant yet structured representation of Sonoma County’s premier Cabernet growing region."

I ordered a case of this label upon release but due to the Coronavirus shut-in, just now was able to taste it, since I have been home-bound and this was delivered to my office downtown Chicago six weeks ago.

Tonight, we opened this in a mini anniversary celebration, rejoicing our survival in coping being shut-in together during these surreal and crazy circumstances in this, our 45th year.

This release got 94 points from James Suckling and Antonio Galloni's Vinous, and 91 points from Natalie.

James Suckling said this 'needs two or three years to soften. Try after 2022. Best from 2020 through 2030.' I agree, it was a bit tight, closed and flabby on initial opening, and will hopefully come together with a few more years aging. Antonio Galloni wrote, the "floral and savory aromas open up over time", and we found it needed time to open and in fact, was better the next day, after sitting open for the evening. 

The fruit was sourced from several vineyard sites throughout the Alexander Valley where Cabernet Sauvignon grows best including some of St. Jean’s traditional sources: Asti Vineyard, Stuhlmuller Vineyard as well as Belle Terre vineyard.  

Chateau St Jean winemaker Margo Van Staaveren writes: "The 2015 growing season was one of outstanding quality marked with ideal weather for growing Cabernet Sauvignon. The continuation of California’s drought brought a dry winter followed by a dry and early spring with an early bud break. Weather was warm and consistent throughout late spring and summer which allowed for full development in the grapes. We began picking the grapes in September, and while overall yields were low, the quality and depth of flavor of the fruit was excellent." 

The wine was barreled aged in 60% French and 40% American Oak barrels for 20 months of oak aging. This wine was bottled in August of 2017 and received another 6 months of bottle age prior to its release on January 1, 2018, to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the famed winery.  

Natalie writes,"Dramatic differences in day and night time temperatures gives this Cabernet Sauvignon is ripe, juicy fruit flavours of cassis, smoke, anise and dried sweet tobacco. Decant for one hour prior to pouring."

The Winemaker's Tasting Notes; "Deep ruby in color, this Cabernet Sauvignon boasts a huge amount of blueberry, plum, and violets on the nose, with oak spices shining through. On the palate, blue fruit flavors combine with cassis and plum to create a very deep berry and fruit profile. The wine finishes with strong oak spice supported by the tannic structure. Very drinkable with a strong acidity complementing the tannins and fruit flavors. Drink now, or cellar for up to 15 years."

Dark garnet colored, medium full bodied, black berry and black currant fruits with notes of dark mocha chocolate, cassis, smoke, anise, black tea and tobacco.

Natalie suggested pairing this Cabernet Sauvignon with "grilled portobello mushroom, lamb Bolognese, or grilled New York strip loin." We did, ordering in curb-side carry out from Angelis Italian, our neighborhood trattoria, I had the grilled portabella mushrooms along with Bolognese sauce.

RM 91 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2947884

Chateau St. Jean Website - http://www.chateaustjean.com/ 

Caymus Vineyards Estate Visit and Tasting

Caymus Vineyards Estate Visit and Tasting

Our last tasting appointment of our Napa Valley Wine Experience 2018 was a private tasting at legendary Caymus Vineyards, are one of the most well known and established brands in Napa Valley dating back to 1972. Since then their production has grown from 240 to 65000 cases per year. They're most known for Caymus Cabernet - their two Cabernets Sauvignons; “Napa Valley” and the venerable “Special Selection”. Both are crafted by winemaker, founder and patriarch Chuck Wagner.

Caymus have managed to continue to produce respectable Cabernets despite their large growth in production. Both wines are known for early gratification, drinkability when young, as well as aging ability. We hold many vintages of Caymus Cabernet and Caymus Special Select dating back to the 1990 vintage.

A couple years ago, for their fortieth anniversary, Caymus changed their packaging with a new label design and new foil that prominently featured the number '40'. Each year since, they increment the number representing the number of years that they have been producing Caymus Cabernet. We purchased a collection of that label and every one since, as our wedding anniversary coincides with the same number of years as Caymus. Ever since, we serve Caymus Cabernet as part of our 'shared; anniversary celebration. That first year's celebration is featured in this linked blogspot post. Last year's anniversary celebration was featured in this linked blogspot. 

Caymus Vineyards remains 100% family-owned by the Wagners, elder Charlie, Lorna Belle, and Chuck who are joined by the next generation, Chuck's two sons, Charlie and Joe, and daughter, Jenny. They farm about 350 acres of choice Napa Valley vineyards.

Caymus is named for the historic Mexican land grant known as Rancho Caymus, given to George Yount in 1836, which encompassed what eventually became the town of Rutherford and much of the surrounding area.

The Caymus portfolio has grown with new labels that include the Emmolo and Mer Soleil brands.

The Emmolo brand is named after the mother of Jenny Wagner. Emolo wines are sourced from fruit from the family Estate north of the Caymus property in the Rutherford district of Napa Valley. Jenny’s great grandfather emigrated from Italy in 1923 to settle in Napa Valley and planted vine stock nursery. Her grandfather planted vineyards in the 1950’s and her mother started producing Emmollo wines in 1994.

The Mer Soleil label is the handiwork of Charlie Wagner. He sources grapes from a number of properties from Sonoma to Santa Barbara. Mer Soleil means sea and sun referring to the coastal vineyards from which the grapes are sourced. The brand tends to feature Burgundian grape varietals Pinot Noir and Chardonnay which are more suited to such sites.

Like some of our other producer visits this week, we scheduled a private tasting at Caymus to experience some of the brands' labels that are limited production and available only at the winery or directly from the producer.  Of the six wines we tasted, only two are such offerings, the Mer Soleil Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir and Caymus Estate Napa Valley Zinfandel.

In retrospect our tasting visit was a source of major agitation and aggravation when we learned after the fact, reading on their website, that the tasting fee is waived with the purchase of four bottles of wine. We purchased three, one, and would've naturally bought another since it would've essentially been gratis when factoring in the tasting fee. It would've been nice had we been offered this or told of this policy when were there. Our image of the brand will forever be tainted by this shortsightedness as we feel shorted.

Note we purchased the labels not in general or limited in distribution, the Pinot and Zinfandel, and another label not tasted, Caymus-Suisun Grand Durif, all of varietals we don't generally collect for longer term cellaring. The Bordeaux varietals we normally collect and drink that were tasted, are generally available in distribution and at our local merchant, hence there was no need to acquire at the winery to ship home.

Our tasting flight:

Emmolo Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2016

Mer Soleil Santa Barbara Chardonnay 2015

Mer Soleil Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir 2016

This is the first inaugural release of this Pinot Noir label, sourced from vineyards in the Santa Lucia Highlands appellation in coastal central California.

This was garnet colored, medium bodied, bright flavors of cherry, strawberry and subtle cranberry accented by a layer of bacon fat, earth and spices with soft tannins on a lingering finish.

RM 89 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2949226

Caymus Estate Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

Caymus Special Selection Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2014

Caymus Special Selection is the flagship wine of the Wagner family and is comprised of the very best barrels of the vintage.

We hold this wine in several vintages including the 1990 release which was Wine Spectator wine of the year and is birth year wine of Son Alec.

Caymus Estate Napa Valley Zinfandel 2016

The label says this is produced by Caymus in Fairfield, CA. This is a very limited production label available only at the winery that has actually been produced since 1975. According to our server, this is a favorite of Chuck Wagner, personally produced since the earliest days for personal consumption, and available in small quantities from the winery direct.

Caymus-Suisun Grand Durif 2016

We also purchased this wine to try as we're fans of Sirah and Petit Sirah. Fruit for this wine is sourced from the Suisun Valley located in the California Central Valley about forty minutes east of Napa Valley. The fruit for this wine is the Durif grape varietal which is also known as Petite Sirah.

Watch for our tasting experience.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2974168

http://www.caymus.com/

Caymus Estate Cab Anniversary

Caymus Estate Cab Anniversary Branding Caps Day in the City Outing and Celebration Dinner

A couple years ago, in 2014, the well know Napa Valley producer Caymus changed their longstanding label branding and associated packaging to commemorate their 40th anniversary. One of the notable packaging elements was a prominent '40' on the top of the foil. It just so happens that Caymus' anniversary aligns with our wedding anniversary so we served the 40th commemorative bottle at several family dinners including a gala family celebration dinner in honor of our 40th.

So it was only fitting that Linda and I selected a Caymus '43' Cabernet for a special anniversary dinner outing together. We ventured into Chicago for the day to celebrate the end of summer and it turned into an all day outing, culminating in a upscale dinner at Chicago Cut Steakhouse on the Chicago River.

The plan was to head into the city, have lunch and then take in the Gauguin exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago, one of our favorite city destinations.  We are long time members and make it a point to take in all the special exhibits. We get much joy from, appreciate and take advantage of our proximity to AIC which is truly a world class attraction, having been selected as the #1 museum in the world by Tripadvisor, a major travel site.

We ventured in looking for a place we could eat al fresco enroute or downtown. We researched and explored 'Little Italy' which we used to enjoy decades ago but had lost track of it. We've determined that the Little Italy as we used to know it doesn't exist any more having given way to the influx of Latinos taking over the near southwest side which has become Little village, Mexico of the Midwest, and the growth and spread of the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the emergence of the hip new University Village area, and the expansion of the Illinois Medical District on the near west south side.

Seeking a new adventure, we sidestepped several of our usual favorites in the area such as Chez Joel on Taylor Street, and May Street Cafe down in Pilsen. We ended up at Lagunitas Brewery north of the Little Village Neighborhood in what is actually Douglas Park neighborhood, tucked away above the BNSF railroad, in the industrial district to the east of the Douglas Park.

We had the address and set out for the site from University Village area and wandered through Little Village meadering back and forth across the railroad line a couple times as we headed west.

We had no idea what to expect and were amazed at the size of the facility and operations and hospitality areas that included of the Brewhouse Tap Restaurant overlooking the brewery and bottling packaging operations below.

Amazingly, this has become a destination in its own right. The anticipation of what is to come is heightened by the spectacle of the long access hallways, the second with long velvet ropes set up to accompany large crowds. We took in lunch and then opted for a self guided tour rather than the formal guided affair.

After the Gauguin exhibit we walked the new River Walk along the south bank of the Chicago River. The energy of the crowds, boat traffic, revelers, and multiple wedding parties was amazing as the city has clearly taken to this new attraction, from the water as well as by land. Clearly both feed on each other creating a vibrant spectacle. Not wanting it to end, we ventured across the river to Chicago Cut Steakhouse for a riverside table view wine and dine experience overlooking the river from the upper level.

The parade of boat traffic seemed to be endless as the tour boats were each completely full with folks taking in the scenery of the spectacular architecture and the whole river scene on the last holiday weekend of summer.

Its was with a sense of great pride and fun to share our wonderful city with visitors from around the world as we noted that it almost seemed that English was a second language among the throngs of people taking in the scene. At dinner we sat adjacent to French speaking visitors from Montreal as well as folks from neighboring Indiana and Michigan.

Caymus Estate '43' Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2015

The Caymus was dark garnet/purple colored, full bodied, with rich concentrated dense vibrant blackberry, black raspberry and blue berry fruits; initial alcohol heat that burns off with decanting and some settling time, notes of cassis and hint of sweet vanilla with silky smooth tannins on the long lingering finish.

RM 93 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2569303

The Caymas cab was a perfect accompaniment to our Chicago Cut prime filet steaks, perfectly prepared in my favorite 'Pittsburgh style', with sides of creamed spinach and whipped potatoes. The Kale and Quinoa salad with candied nuts and fruits was fabulous.

Caymus is one of our favorite Napa Cabs with it smooth polished but bold vibrant style. Caymus is known for early accessible drinking but also can be aged for further maturation in the bottle. While not known for its aging potential, we've held Caymus for close to twenty years for mature fine drinking enjoyment.

As is tooo often the case, Chicago Cut served our wine too warm, such that we actually had them put our red wine in an ice bucket to bring it down to appropriate serving temperature. When you're paying 2x plus times retail for a wine, its not unreasonable to expect ideal service with appropriate glassware, decanting and proper serving temperature. I don't know why this is so difficult for so many restaurants. Its unacceptable when paying $175 for a bottle of 'moderate' priced wine on the wine list to expect it at appropriate temperature for consumption, but it happens much too often.

We enjoy drinking our wine at proper cellar temperature which at 58-63 degrees is ten to fifteen degrees below room temperature, not room temp or above. We keep our home cellar even cooler at about 53 degrees and find it ideal for our drinking pleasure as well as for long term storage. Amazingly, more than once we've been served expensive bottles of fine wine, that were brought from a storage area adjacent to the kitchen, well above room temperature. Restaurants serious about their wine service (and expecting high price points and associated margins) should be held accountable, and should know better.

A great memorable special day in our beloved Chicago.

http://www.caymus.com/

http://www.chicagocutsteakhouse.com/

http://www.artic.edu/

https://lagunitas.com/taprooms/chicago#

Caymus 2012 40th Anniversary Bottling Highlights Steak Dinner

Caymus 2012 40th Anniversary Bottling Highlights Steak Dinner 

L and I planned to go out for lunch and do some shopping and ended up at a local wine shop where we picked up a few more bottles of the Caymus 40th Anniversary Special bottle. So we decided to go back home and prepare a special dinner to accompany the wine. Linda prepared pan seared tuna on a bed of cabbage, peas and red wine raspberry vinaigrette, followed by grilled New York Strip steaks, grilled onions and baked potatoes. I scoured the cellar for a suitable special bottle for dinner and stayed with the Caymus. Afterwards she prepared ice cream sundaes with roasted walnuts and chocolate sauce, another spectacular accompaniment to the delicious Caymus.

This is an amazing wine. As I've written here several times, the 2012 vintage of Caymus Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is spectacular and was a perfect compliment to our beef steak dinner with dark chocolate dessert. Not only did they release a blockbuster for the vintage, they packaged it in a celebratory bottle and commemorative label, and then they lowered the price! A wine that typically sells at the street price of $65, this has been widely available at ten dollars off the regular price or $55. For drinking now or saving for a couple years, this is a must buy for the price point, and for special occasions or anniversary celebration dinners. And for better value, they also offer a one liter bottle. This is a showcase wine that shows Napa Valley Cabernet at its best.

Caymus Estate Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 - Special 40th Anniversary Bottling

As featured in my recent earlier blog journal tasting reports on this wine, this is the 40th release of this legendary label and it features a special 40th Anniversary release label for the occasion. The 2012 vintage release also  shows the classic characteristics of Caymus Estate Cabernet at its best - early approachability and drinkability as a young wine.

Typical legendary Caymus Cabernet style - dark blackish ruby/garnet colored, medium to full bodied, nicely structured, complex but smooth, well balanced and polished, it opens with sweet ripe blackberry and raspberry flavors highlighted by layers of milk chocolate, subtle tones of cinnamon, vanilla and hints of caramel and kirsch, giving way to a smooth lingering modest tannin finish.

RM 94 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1805868

http://www.caymus.com