It was in the Fall of 1971 when my parents (Charlie Wagner & Lorna Belle Glos Wagner) pulled me aside to have a very serious talk – I was 19 at the time. They sat me down and made me an offer to join them in starting a small commercial winery. If it was decided to NOT start the winery, they would sell their land and move to Australia. My dad loved wine and was a home winemaker for most of his life. Our neighbors had been encouraging him to get into the commercial side of the business and now he was ready to take the next step. When I was 19 I had no idea of where we would end up or if we would have success in the wine business. In 1972 we started Caymus Vineyards.

Looking back I think it’s truly an amazing journey we’ve had. When we started the winery my father was 60 and my mother was 57. I think about this a lot… my parents risking their life savings to get into the wine business. There’s a lot more to our story and today I’m happy to share with you this video that celebrates the last 40 years. We continue to practice my father’s innovative farming and winemaking style and I think he would be very proud to see how far his grandkids: Joseph, Charlie, Jenny and Erin have come. Thank you for enjoying our family wines and we look forward to many generations of farmers and winemakers.

~ Chuck Wagner, Caymus Vineyards owner & winemaker

Click below to watch our video.

What does farming mean to you? At Wagner Family of Wine, we are farmers at heart and believe that quality starts in the vineyard. It’s a big part of our tradition that has been passed down for five generations. Making wines of consistent quality year after year is no easy task. It all starts in the vineyard with patience and innovative farming practices. Here’s a video that demonstrates how we apply our viticultural practices from pruning to harvest for Caymus Vineyards and our other wines that complete the line-up in Wagner Family of Wine: Conundrum, Belle Glos, Meiomi and Mer Soleil. Did you learn something new from watching this video?

~ Joseph Wagner, Belle Glos & Meiomi Winemaker

It’s been a tremendous growing year for all of us at Caymus Vineyards.  Although 2011 did bring with it a cooler bloom period, late May – early June, we are happy to say it had a positive effect in the vineyard.  Most of our fruit this year resembled what we call “hens & chicks” which means big and small berries on the same cluster.  The small berries don’t have seeds which is an added bonus because it helps remove any bitter characteristics in the wine.  The large berries do have seeds, so we make sure that the color of the seed has turned brown before picking which again removes any bitterness in the wine.  We have high hopes for the wines produced this year.  There may be less fruit and less resulting wine, but the fermentation process will have more concentrated skin to juice ratio, making a richer, thicker, darker wine than typical.  Please enjoy this video and see how we pick our fruit.

~ Winemaker, Chuck Wagner