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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 94.4 pts. and median of 95 pts. in 288 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Bodyfxr on 3/25/2024 & rated 95 points: Decnated for over an hour. See previous note as this wine hasn't changed much since. Very smooth and lush. Always a crowd favorite. Had in a line up with a 2012 Darius II and a 2012 Insignia. This was a close second to the Insignia. Drink or hold. (1032 views) | | | Tasted by Rickfor on 1/31/2024 & rated 93 points: - Crimsom color. (1527 views) | | | Tasted by cabsrgreat on 12/25/2023 & rated 97 points: Wow! Took advice of other comments and let it air (1 hour 1st day), and it was fantastic! Velvety chocolate and slightly muted cherry. Smooth, well integrated tannins. A joy to drink. Day 2 was even better. (1537 views) | | | Tasted by BondJamesBond007 on 11/25/2023 & rated 98 points: What you smell you taste. 11 years of aging with a Warrior Cork…Give some air. Amazing! Chocolate cake. Sweet oak vanilla chocolate creme de cassis black fruit spices, sweet Leather, dried plum mild sweet smoke wet earth sweet dust and ripe blackberry.
*Much better on second day.*
Give some air and sweetness disappears. (1904 views) | | | Tasted by Tranquility Base on 5/21/2023 & rated 96 points: Delicious wine, better the second day. The second day made me wish I'd drunk it more slowly. The last third of the bottle offered deep, rich, and complex fruit flavors and smell of the Napa terroir. The earlier portions delivered great balance but a bit thin. The last part made up for it. Caymus makes fantastic wine, too expensive for me most of the time, but this bottle aged well and makes me want to scrounge for more. I was a little worried that the 2012 vintage would not have aged well based on some other comments I'd read but this was more than fine. (3438 views) | | | Tasted by BLam on 4/16/2023 & rated 92 points: It was brought to my welcome BBQ for K in the club house, pairing well with steak. But it will be too heavy to me if drink without food. (2961 views) | | | Tasted by chanukha on 10/29/2022 & rated 91 points: Seems to have calmed down a bit but still feels over extracted. For those who like their Cali Cabs loud and big. (4123 views) | | | Tasted by kurtepete@sbcglobal.net on 10/19/2022: Drank well may have been past it's prime (2877 views) | | | Tasted by Bodyfxr on 9/26/2022 & rated 95 points: Took to C.Ellots restaurant for a dinner meeting. Decanted for approximately 20 minutes. Cork had some seepage on it but the wine was fine. The nose was so powerful that the jammy aromas wafted over our table as the wine was poured. Deep dark purple hue. Full bodied and still bodacious with bountiful amounts of fruit. I picked this wine in particular because I knew it was Dave's favorite. Lush , big and yummy. This wine is in its sweet spot. I will make do with my holdings over the next two years. Drink or hold. (3794 views) | | | Tasted by thebonnydooner on 8/29/2022 & rated 94 points: Wow - so dark, so ripe and so intense. This was very rich - but nicely enough balanced to be pretty drinkable with or without food. Glad I drank while the fruit was in all its glory, as there was minimal tannin. This was polished no doubt. Not my style for everyday (or even special occasions) but nice to try once in a while. Excellent. (3423 views) | | | Tasted by I'd Rather Be Drinking Wine on 7/19/2022 & rated 96 points: Opened at restaurant and let sit for an hour before pouring - Took two magnums to Owami, unfortunately, one bottle dropped and broke before we entered the restaurant. However, the second bottle perfumed above average! Delicious as always with plenty of dark fruit, velvety tannins and nicely integrated oak. Perfumed nose and palate showed plenty of dark fruit, chocolate and earth notes. A pleasure to drink! 96 points for this bottle! (4188 views) | | | Tasted by webbaker on 3/1/2022 & rated 95 points: Multiple tastings with consistent notes, classic special selection from an interesting year. Drinking beautifully now. (4043 views) | | | Tasted by mcaceres68 on 2/12/2022 & rated 90 points: Ok (3231 views) | | | Tasted by FredericoWines on 2/6/2022 & rated 95 points: As good as last bottle drunk two years ago. Very dark color and concentrate juice. Exposive nose of rasberry, red plum and blackcurrant fruits. Spicy long finish. A classic Napa style without overshooting like recent bottlings (3211 views) | | | Tasted by Bobcat 31 on 12/19/2021 & rated 91 points: very good as always (3406 views) | | | Tasted by Dave Mac on 11/27/2021 & rated 94 points: Cracked open this little rascal and it ran around my nose like a bug on a hot summer night. Flowers, silt, and asphalt wafted through the air before the plums kicked in (with respect to Eastbound and Down); raspberry's were notable, like dancing clowns on the tip of my tongue. Fun fun fun wine
The wine looks crimson colored. (3492 views) | | | Tasted by Zner1506 on 9/26/2021 & rated 95 points: Beautiful tannic finish notes of dark chocolate on a very smooth finish. Will drink beautifully for years. Cheers (3576 views) | | | Tasted by Richard123 on 9/14/2021 & rated 93 points: Rich, smooth, fruity & well balanced. (3324 views) | | | Tasted by Mark1npt on 9/5/2021 & rated 94 points: So Jason pulled a fast one on us! His bonus wine for the event, to show us Caymus snobs how wrong we are! This was actually quite good, albeit with the requisite Caymus sweetness. Nice nose, dark fruited with vanilla, caramel like qualities and a hint of licorice. While this was generally sweeter than I like it was quite good. I think the 9 years of bottle age is what made it for me. If I had this on release, it surely would have been too much. Even with the aging, you really couldn't tell this was a '12. It drank as many Napa '16s did/do. (4831 views) | | | Tasted by Decanting Queen on 9/3/2021 & rated 94 points: Zoom with Mark and Jason (Atlanta/Naples/Minneapolis): Initially blind could not figure this one out--it was so decadent and hedonistic. Dark fruits and melted chocolate and candied vanilla. There was no denying that this was really tasty if a bit sweet. I was surprised to learn that this was different than the 40th anniversary--which I had previously and did not particularly care for. The special selection was darker fruited, more complex, and while sweet it was not syrupy and certainly not cough syrupy. Tons of vanilla but I'm ok with that!
Well done Jason to show us a better side of 2012 Caymus. (4346 views) | | | Tasted by I'd Rather Be Drinking Wine on 9/3/2021 & rated 95 points: Zooming with some new friends!: PnP - I pulled this wine for a zoom tasting with some new friends who were down on Caymus, but had never experienced their Special Selection. I thought it would be a fun experiment to have them taste blind. Of course, everyone loved the wine, although the comments were that the sweetness was quite noticeable. For me, this wine always hits the spot, and is squarely in my wheelhouse. I love the silky texture and the layers of chocolate and cherry wrapped in dark fruit with a healthy dose of leather and pencil shavings, and of course, just enough sweet toasted oak to be satisfying without going overboard. Still a 95 point wine for me! (3235 views) | | | Tasted by I'd Rather Be Drinking Wine on 6/27/2021 & rated 95 points: Still loving this wine...it has never disappointed! PnP at. friends while prepping for a wine & food event. As always, silky smooth with creamy chocolate covered cherry, some cassis, some graphite and some leather notes, all wrapped in sweet toasted oak! This wine goes down so smooth and easy! I know Caymus is a polarizing wine these days, but I still can't figure out who wouldn't like this! Does it assault you with ever-changing layers of flavor? Not really, but it is an awesome tasting, well built wine and will keep for quite a few more years! 95+ and still one of my favorite go-to wines.....I would drink these more often if my niece didn't claim them all! (3753 views) | | | Tasted by CHarder on 5/23/2021 & rated 94 points: This is smooth lovely blackcurrant and vanilla fruit. Big and bold but not over the top.
Will benefit from 2-5 yrs cellaring to develop some secondary flavours. But with 2 hrs decant this works now for sure (3189 views) | | | Tasted by Bobcat 31 on 5/5/2021 & rated 94 points: consistently really good.Got better as it opened up. (3115 views) | | | Tasted by TastesGoodToMe on 4/12/2021 & rated 94 points: Cork had about 1/8th inch of staining/seepage even though I have owned since release and it has been meticulously stored. The wine was still fabulous. (3810 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Sara d'Amato
WineAlign (12/11/2015)
(Caymus Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley red) Subscribe to see review text. | By David Lawrason
WineAlign (12/3/2015)
(Caymus Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Antonio Galloni
Vinous, 2013 Napa Valley: Once Upon a Time in America… (Oct 2015) (10/1/2015)
(Caymus Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Special Selection Napa Valley) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of WineAlign and Vinous. (manage subscription channels) |
| Caymus Producer website Cabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon is probably the most famous red wine grape variety on Earth. It is rivaled in this regard only by its Bordeaux stablemate Merlot, and its opposite number in Burgundy, Pinot Noir. From its origins in Bordeaux, Cabernet has successfully spread to almost every winegrowing country in the world. It is now the key grape variety in many first-rate New World wine regions, most notably Napa Valley, Coonawarra and Maipo Valley. Wherever they come from, Cabernet Sauvignon wines always seem to demonstrate a handful of common character traits: deep color, good tannin structure, moderate acidity and aromas of blackcurrant, tomato leaf, dark spices and cedarwood.
Used as frequently in blends as in varietal wines, Cabernet Sauvignon has a large number of common blending partners. Apart from the obvious Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the most prevalent of these are Malbec, Petit Verdot and Carmenere (the ingredients of a classic Bordeaux Blend), Shiraz (in Australia's favorite blend) and in Spain and South America, a Cabernet – Tempranillo blend is now commonplace. Even the bold Tannat-based wines of Madiran are now generally softened with Cabernet SauvignonUSAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Napa Valley Napa Valley Wineries and Wine (Napa Valley Vintners)Napa ValleySt. Helena |
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