Few Napa estates carry a reputation as rich as their wine. Founded in 1972 on a stretch of Rutherford bench land, Caymus Vineyards turned a young man’s gamble into one of California’s most decorated Cabernet houses — and it is still, half a century on, a working family farm.1
Two-time Wine of the Year. Caymus Special Selection is the only wine ever named Wine Spectator’s Wine of the Year twice — for the 1984 vintage (announced 1989) and the 1990 vintage (1994).2
A Rutherford family estate
Caymus sits on roughly 73 acres in Rutherford, where the Wagner family has farmed since the 1940s and traces its Napa roots to the mid-1850s. The family’s forebears came from Alsace in France and the Rheinpfalz in Germany — winegrowing country on both sides.1 In 1972, nineteen-year-old Chuck Wagner founded the winery with his parents, Charlie and Lorna, and made Caymus’s first Cabernet Sauvignon that same year.3
The Special Selection and back-to-back Wine of the Year
In 1975 the Wagners hired winemaker Randy Dunn and released the first Caymus Special Selection, a Cabernet drawn from the finest lots of the harvest.1 It became the estate’s signature. The Special Selection from the 1984 vintage was named Wine Spectator’s Wine of the Year in 1989; the 1990 vintage took the same honor in 1994 — making Caymus the only producer ever to win it twice.2 The recognition arrived at the moment Napa Cabernet was ascending on the world stage, less than two decades after the 1976 Judgment of Paris.4
A working family farm
Caymus still runs as a hands-on family operation, and visitors are as likely to find a Wagner on a tractor or in the barrel cellar as in the tasting room.3 Chuck Wagner’s children Charlie and Jenny now help lead the business; his youngest son, Joe, founded the Belle Glos label — named for his grandmother, Lorna Belle Glos Wagner — devoted to Pinot Noir. Today the Wagner Family of Wine farms some 2,400 acres across Napa, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Solano and Sonoma counties, with additional production wineries in Monterey and Solano (Cordelia). An early second label, Liberty School, was sold to the Hope family in 1996.3
Frequently asked questions
What is Caymus Vineyards known for?
Caymus is a Rutherford, Napa Valley estate best known for its rich, opulent Cabernet Sauvignon. Its flagship Special Selection is the only wine ever named Wine Spectator’s Wine of the Year twice.
Where is Caymus located?
Caymus is in Rutherford, in the heart of California’s Napa Valley, where the Wagner family has farmed since the 1940s.
What is Caymus Special Selection, and why is it famous?
Special Selection is Caymus’s flagship Cabernet, first made in 1975 and drawn from the best lots of each harvest. Its 1984 vintage was named Wine Spectator’s Wine of the Year in 1989, and its 1990 vintage again in 1994 — the only wine to earn the honor twice.
Who runs Caymus today?
Caymus remains a working family operation. Founder Chuck Wagner still leads it alongside his children Charlie and Jenny; his youngest son, Joe, founded the Belle Glos Pinot Noir label.
Read more
- Napa Valley: History of America’s Most Famous Wine Region
- To Kalon: Famous Vineyards and Wineries of the World
- Sonoma: History of Where California Wine Began
Recommended reading
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References
- Wine Spectator, “The Story of Caymus: Past, Present and Future.” ↑
- Wine Spectator, “The Wagner Family,” 40th Anniversary: Leaders of Wine. ↑
- Wagner Family of Wine / Caymus Vineyards, official winery history. ↑
- George M. Taber, Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting (Scribner, 2005). ↑
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