The growing season has begun!  Our buds are open and we’re starting to see the grape clusters form. Bud break came ahead of schedule this year,  between March 30th and April 1st, thanks to a warm Spring.  Soon we will shoot-thin to only leave two shoots per position, resulting in 1-2 clusters per shoot.  By reducing the number of clusters per vine, we are able to keep our fruit yields low to make a higher quality wine.  To learn more, please watch this video of my daughter Jenny Wagner talking about bud break.  To learn more about the other wines made by my family, please visit: www.wagnerfamilyofwine.com

- Chuck Wagner, Owner & Winemaker

After enjoying the winter holidays, my family and I are eager to get back to work in the vineyards and begin our 2013 growing season.  We come from a long line of farmers in the Napa Valley dating as far back as the 1800s and it’s a very exciting time for us to return to the vineyard, prune the vines, and see how we can set the bar of quality even higher than last year.  My son Joseph Wagner said it best in the video below, “From pruning through harvest, what we put into our viticulture at all of our vineyards, sets the stage for the quality that year.”

- Chuck Wagner, Owner & Winemaker

Having trouble playing the video?  Watch it here.

The 2012 growing season was a special year for us here at Caymus Vineyards. Mother Nature handed us near-perfect weather conditions for Cabernet Sauvignon. We did our very best work in the vineyard and made sure that each vine produced a low yield of high quality fruit. During late August at the time of 90% veraison, when sugar accumulates in the fruit and the berries begin to change color, we went through every row and dropped any clusters that were delayed in ripening. By doing this we eliminate any additional acid or “green” characters in the wine. We also allowed our fruit to hang longer on the vine until the fruit showed signs of dehydration or dimpling in the berry skins. This is when the fruit is at peak ripeness and ready to be made into wine. On the last day of October, we harvested our Cabernet Sauvignon. I really think that the 2012 vintage is one for the books and will produce a very rich wine full of color, flavor and texture. Please enjoy this video to see how we pick our fruit and how different our grapes look in order to make our signature style of Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon.

- Chuck Wagner, Owner & Winemaker

To learn more about the other wines made by my family, please visit: www.wagnerfamilyofwine.com