Dunn Vineyards and Caymus #40 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons

Dunn Vineyards and Caymus #40 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons

For another dinner with visiting relatives Jan & Bill, Bill pulled from the wine cellar a couple labels he was eager to try - a aged vintage Dunn Vineyards and a Caymus Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

Dunn Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1986

Jan and Bill accompanied us when we visited the Dunn Vineyards estate up at Angwin on Howell Mountain during our Napa Valley Howell Mountain Wine Experience back in 2008. We were hosted by Kristina Dunn that day but we had the privilege to meet winemaker, producer, patriarch and Napa Valley pioneer Randy Dunn. 

Randy started his wine career working for Charlie Wagner as the first enologist for Caymus. He was  instrumental in establishing Howell Mountain as a sub-AVA of Napa Valley. He is hands on from the vineyards to the cellars.

While not one of the larger holdings in our cellar in terms of number of bottles, it may be one of our broadest holdings in terms of number of vintages in our vertical collection of this label, and the flagship premium label Dunn Howell Mtn Cab.  We also collect Randy Dunn's "Feather" label that he produces for the Long Shadows Vintners Collection Series in Washington State.

Our Cellartracker records indicate we have a vertical collection of several mixed cases of each label from almost two dozen vintages dating back to 1981. 

Selections from Vertical Collection of Dunn Napa Valley Cabernets

This label release got 92 points from Robert Parker. It has a Cellartracker average rating of 92.7 from 92 user reviews.

With Randy Dunn at Dunn estate high atop Howell Mountain.

Dunn is known for age-worthy long-lived Napa Cabernets, especially the premium Howell Mountain label.  Robert Parker tasted both Dunn labels at ten years of age in 1996 and wrote: "Two of the most impressive wines in these tastings, both of Dunn's 1986s tasted like 3-4-year old Cabernets rather than 10-year old adolescents.... Rich, pure, and youthful, this 1986 is accessible now, but will unquestionably last another 20+ years." That would bring this wine to 2016 and here we are five years later. 

Amazingly, at 35 years of age this 1986 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon is still holding its own showing some but little sign of diminution from age. The fill level, foil, label and most importantly the cork, were all in good, acceptable condition. 

The bottle still has the pricetag sticker on the bottle showing $49.95, which would've been the purchase price back on release in the late 1980's.

Dark garnet colored with a slight brownish tinge on the rim starting to set in, medium bodied, musty dark blackberry and black raspberry fruits holding on but starting to give way to notes of dusty tobacco, leather, hint of graphite, espresso and cassis with nicely integrated tannins on a round lingering finish. 

RM 88 points.

1986 Dunn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

https://www.cellartracker.com › wine › iWine=36948

http://www.dunnvineyards.com/

@dunn_vineyards  

We then opened this widely popular classic Napa Cab Caymus. 

Caymus Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon #40 2012 

As I've written here in these pages several times,  Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon is an amazing wine, always a fan favorite. This 2012 vintage was spectacular as usual and was a perfect compliment to our beef steak dinner with dark chocolate dessert. I always find it remarkable how Caymus consistently produce such a wine in such large quantity sourced from so many different growers and vineyards. 

We visited the Caymus Vineyards estate during our Napa Valley Wine Experience 2018 for a private tasting. 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.

We collected “Caymus Special Selection” for the 1990 vintage (and many vintages since), birthyear of son Alec, and Wine Spectator Wine of the year for 1992. We served this at Alec and Vivianna's wedding celebration.

For this 2012 release, they produced a blockbuster for the vintage, and changed their long standing branding and packaging to this celebratory bottle and commemorative label. The numerical foil that they began with this vintage and every vintage since, signifies the anniversary of the release of this label dating back to the 1976 inaugural vintage release. In this vintage release, they also offered a one liter bottle which provides a nice mid-point step up between the standard size and the 1.5 liter magnum packaging. 

Tonight's tasting was consistent with earlier notes and posts in 2014, 2015 and 2016. 

Dark inky purple, full bodied, big brooding ripe tongue coating plum, black and blue berry fruits predominate turning to a layer of mocha chocolate with a hint of cassis on a big finish 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 Cab 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 93 points.  

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

http://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2014/11/caymus-2012-40th-anniversary-bottling.html

http://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2014/08/napanook-and-caymus-napa-reds-anchor.html

http://www.caymus.com

https://twitter.com/caymuscab 

Truffles Restaurant & Wine Bar B-Town Wine Dinner

Truffles Restaurant and  56° Wine Bar Bloomingon, Indiana Wine Dinner

We traveled to Bloomington, Indiana for a Indiana University sororiety college reunion gathering. Arriving a day early to meet with long time friends, we dined at Truffles Restaurant and  56° Wine Bar. This sells itself as a "chef-driven eaterie serving a range of foods from classic Steakhouse to International fare". They offer an extensive diversified wine list that is unique on the Bloomington dining scene.

The 56 Degrees Bar Wine Cellar is an ambitious venture for the Truffles family owner Mark Kiang who shares his extensive wine collection, with many selections B-T-G (by the glass), by the bottle, or via an online ordering system, with an option for delivery.

He caters to local wine aficionados with a program to sign up for a monthly wine bundle subscription, and receive bottles of wines selected by the owner himself (or bottles to personal choice). Truffles will then provide recipes and pairing suggestions in the wine package and via e-newsletter.

Remarkably, on the front porch of the restaurant was a display of several (consumed) bottles of extraordinary wines that we hold in our cellar, including one very rare label, indeed. The first that got my attention was the current release of Chateau Pichon Lalande, a label we just had the other evening at our gala Pour Boys Wine Dinner.

 The other bottle that really got my attention was a very rare 'red stripe' label of David Arthur 'Elevation 1157' Napa Cabernet (shown right from our cellar). This particular bottling ran to the end of the spool of labels, to the point that there was a red stripe across the label, indicating to the bottling, labeling machine operator that it was time to add a new spool of labels. Several bottles were labeled with these errant labels in the process before the machine was stopped. The producer went ahead and sold these bottles anyway as a novelty in their portfolio selection. 

We visited the David Arthur Estate and Vineyards, at the elevation of 1157 feet, high above the Valley floor on the eastern slope of the Vaca Range. We hold several of those bottles (shown) in our cellar waiting for an suitable occasion to serve a unique novel bottle. Suffice to say, that bottle had been consumed and none were on offer this evening. (David Arthur visit - http://unwindwine.blogspot.com/).

I took advantage of the offering of the latest current release Caymus Estate Napa Cabernet B-T-G. Interestingly, I had considered the same label earlier over the weekend at the Del Ray Beach Wine Bar from their extensive B-T-G selection. Notably, the price of both offers was within $1. 

Truffles offered a charcuterie and wine selection as well as several wine friendly small plates. I sampled the Pate' with my selection.

Caymus Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

I admit the glass of wine I was served was a slight bit 'skunked' from having been open a bit too long or not handled properly such as by a dispenser system. Not wanting to make a scene or disrupt the mood of the evening, I accepted the glass and factored in the state condition into my tasting. 

Caymus generally does an incredible job crafting a consistent signature style in large volume, vintage after vintage. The Caymus profile provides early gratification with approachable easy drinking at an early age, yet is ageworthy for a couple decades, or more in exceptional vintages. The style is dark in color, round with full rich fruit and ripe, velvety tannins. 

We hold a decade of Caymus vintages in our cellar as an easy to please, popular, dependable, and mainstay label for special occasion as well as special guest servings.

We visited the Caymus estate and winery during ou r our Napa Valley Wine Experience in the summer of 2018. 

Caymus sources and blends Cabernet fruit from eight of Napa’s 16 sub-appellations, taking advantage of such diversification to enable them to select the best grapes so as to make the best possible wine in any given year. 

Typical of the Caymus profile, tonight's wine that was dark garnet colored, medium full bodied, (setting aside a slight funk most assuredly from the bottle being open and not handled ideally), the ripe black berry and black cherry fruits were accented tones of mocha cocoa, cassis and notes of tobacco and tea with soft smooth lingering finish. 

RM 89 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3456558

Next I sampled another current release Napa Cab. 

Faust Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

This is the another label that is from the owners/winemakers associated with Quintessa, from the producer Faust, whose property is adjacent to the west of the estate on Silverado Trail.

Some call this label “Baby Quintessa”, since it has common ownership and geographically is from the adjacent Faust property.

We visited the Quintessa Estate and Vineyards during our Napa Valley Wine Experience back in 2003. It was about this time that Quintessa founder Agustin Huneeus and his wife Valeria, were planning and assembling their family portfolio of wines that represent the finest vineyard estates in California and Oregon, that was announced and launched i 2005.

In addition to the Quintessa estate, the family’s vineyard and winery projects include Faust Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and Illumination by Quintessa, an aromatic white wine. In 2009, the Huneeus family forged a partnership with Joan and Walt Flowers of Flowers Vineyards & Winery, pioneering vintners who in 1989, established two extraordinary vineyards dedicated to world-class Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the extreme Sonoma Coast.

In 2017, Andy Erickson, former winemaker for Screaming Eagle, joined as partners on his red blend project Leviathan, which began in 2004, thereby joining the broader winemaking team. 

The winemaking team at Faust is similar to the team at Quintessa (Michel Rolland/Andy Erickson) minus Rebekah Wineburg but with Charles Thomas (Opus One) and David Jelinek (Copain/Prisoner/Groth). The vineyard sources are from the foothills of Atlas Peak in Coombsville. The wine is aged and bottled at Quintessa’s state-of-the-art winemaking facility, taking advantage of the vineyard pedigree and winemaking prowess of the Quintessa team. This received the big score of 94pts.

This is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc.

 

Dark garnet colored, medium full-bodied, highly expressive black berry and black current fruits with notes with mocha, leather, oak, hints of vanilla with a pleasant moderate lingering finish.

RM 90

 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3693590

 

https://www.huneeuswines.com/

 

Rombauer Napa Valley Carneros Chardonnay 2018

 

Label from 2014

Prior to dinner, with the starter course, and with her entree, Linda ordered, B-T-G, this Rombauer Napa Chardonnay. We know this label well, hold several vintages in our cellar, but had not yet tasted this current latest release vintage. Hence, like the two bottles above, we had not yet had the opportunity to taste the latest vintage, and were able to do so via the B-T-G offering, rather than having to procure a full bottle. Such is the fun, and convenience of such offerings. 

This release was awarded 90 points by both Wilfred Wong and James Suckling. 

The fruit for this wine comes from vineyards in the Carneros region owned by the Rombauer family, as well as that from select growers including the Sangiacomo family, long-term grower partners who have farmed this land for three generations.  The Carneros region has a cool climate with fog and breezes off San Pablo Bay, at the southern end of Napa and Sonoma Valleys where they converge near there. The San Pablo Bay provides ideal conditions for Chardonnay, consistently resulting in beautiful, fresh acidity and the key sense of balance for this ever popular Chardonnay. Rombauer has been producing Carneros-specific Chardonnay since 1990. This 2018 is another example of this classic style balancing bold fruit and lively acidity. 

 

We met the Rombauer National Sales Manager at a producer dinner Vin Chicago Rombauer Wine Dinner at Adelle's Restaurant in Wheaton, IL a couple years ago. 

 

This was pale light yellow with a green hue with notes of peach, hints of pear, honeydew, lychee fruit intertwined nicely with vanilla and spice, turning to soft buttery and subtly spicy acidity on the finish. 

 

RM 90 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3346773

 

https://www.rombauer.com/

 

https://www.trufflesbtown.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/