2004 Special Selection

Every growing season involves chance, but setting aside certain grapes from among our lots to make the year’s Special Selection is very much a matter of choice. With luck, planting decisions are met by a cooperative climate to produce the superb grapes that go into all our wines. From there, we identify which vineyard blocks were particularly favored with grapes eligible for the Special Selection designation, introduced in 1975.

The weather is always the wild card. After a long winter of heavier than usual rains, the Valley shook off the damp and settled into a calm, dry spring season. The real reward for this growing period came from the floor and foot slopes of the Napa Valley, where the potential for cabernet is (arguably) best realized. The supple, fine textures and cassis and chocolate flavors are almost a given with well-chosen and -farmed sites in and around the Valley floor.

We chose to enhance the blend with a certain amount of hillside grapes, which lend structure in the form of greater tannins, giving a certain amount of grip to the experience.  The flavor profile of these mountain-grown grapes (1400 - 1600 feet in elevation) is also important, adding components of cocoa, tobacco and blueberry. Certain astringencies remain in mountain grapes, yet when used in a judicious manner expand the potential of the Valley floor fruit.

The 2004 Caymus Vineyard Special Selection brings alive the planning and possibilities that mark each vintage.

-- Chuck Wagner

Tasting notes:

Dark, intense ruby color. Wonderful aromas of ripe berries are followed by the concentrated flavors of black currant, black cherry, hints of mocha and a touch of spice. The deep flavors expand during an extremely long finish, rounded out by a full-bodied mouth feel and velvety tannins.

Release date:  October 2006