Just tried Caymus 40th.....

WINE TALK
41

Chris bends over backwards more than almost anyone on this board to be fair. I’m pretty sure he’s not putting on airs. Of course, you haven’t actually tasted the wine…

My two cents? JaMarcus Russell is rumored to be their new consulting winemaker…

42

I think I just threw up a little in my mouth…

43

That’s at the end of the party.

44

Greg, it’s a fair point. I tried it, I was actually blinded on it by a steak house “somm”, I was pretty indifferent about it as I was mystified about what grape it was, I really couldn’t tell. It is a big fruity drink or as Parker says ‘pure’, it was perfectly passable but not at the tariff that they are asking. The “Somm” was absolutely in love with it and I assume he sold a ton.
Not my style and I WOULD probably go out of my way to taste it again to get a better sense of it.

I do find it hypocritical that many of the people who are PC and anti controversial are talking so much smack about this wine. And it is much better than a 3 dollar wine, I just wish I could tell it was Cab.

45

Part of it seems like some hate. It implies that they have made a wine not up to their competency and one which would lose them self-respect. First off, maybe they actually love it and have different tastes. But they may not love it, and perhaps have a goal and generate self-respect from pleasing a large customer base and making themselves successful in business. Those are pretty reasonable primary goals if you ask me.

My wife’s company sells it so I’ve tried it a few times. I know that Chris S. is very even-keeled and not Cal averse, so I’m surprised he hated it SOO much. I didn’t like it, but I didn’t hate it. Though I definitely like modern cab more than most here.

46

I had it when it got released, tasted like purple drank.

47

Consulting winemaker JaMarcus Russell is nodding…

48

It’s almost a cliche when this board’s posters rail against a popular wine. I was well prepared to think the same about this wine, as I do like wines “in the modern style”. We had it at Thanksgiving after a number of nice wines (Zin, Pinot Noir, Brunello).
It was shockingly bad.

49

That’s scary. The 2007 was the last Caymus I drank as it tasted like the 2012 in the description above. If people like it, thats great though. I do agree with the point that it seems they make the wine for “Caymus” drinkers. But it wasn’t always so, as I believe the years from the early 90s and before saw some real beautiful wines that would make many Berserkers very happy to drink.

50

I got the reference. Very solid. I’m split on whether I want to try this wine just to see what the fuss is about.

51

That will make it taste even better!

52

I tried the wine last night at a Reidel comparative glass tasting, where I was one of ten people at a table that included many with virtually no wine knowledge. The guy pouring the wine (not affiliated with Reidel) couldn’t have been more effusive in his praise about the wine, and mentioned that it received 96 points as often as he could.

Having read this thread, I was very interested in trying the wine, and seeing how impressions matched up with others here. I tried my best to be objective, I really did. And, after the event was over, I asked my wife, who was at the other end of the table and has a much better palate that I do, what she thought. We both thought it was overly sweet, both on the nose (smelled like powdered sugar to me) and in the mouth, oddly purple, and only vaguely resembled a cabernet.

Everyone else, however, gushed over the wine. I think that was partly due to GroupThink - not wanting to seem stupid or contradict the supposed experts putting on the event. But, I also think that many actually liked it, and didn’t care whether it was a cabernet or any other grape. So, I saw firsthand how the “average” consumer reacted to this wine - it will be well received by the masses, and will sell very well.

What puzzles me is how any professional wine critic could give it a score of 96.

53

Eric, that wine was poured at our most recent wine club meeting, and my reaction was the same as yours. It tasted, to me, like Welch’s grape jam spread on a graham cracker, sprinkled with oak sawdust, with zero complexity, minerality, or terroir. (Just to be clear, all of the pinots the Wagner family makes, that I have tried, taste like that to my palate… rolleyes )…but to hear the others in our club gush over it, it was the best thing since Haut Brion. I had to bite my tongue.

54

I would rather drink Concha y Toro Frontera Carmenere than the 2012 Caymus…not sure it’s $3 a bottle anymore, but I do remember buying mags of it for $6-$7 per.

And look, I’m not trying to shame Caymus…I too bought a couple bottles of the 2012 (I’ll concede some buyer’s remorse). The 2012 is a dessert wine pretending to be a dry wine pretending to be Cabernet. Parker’s 96 point score is simply absurd and more so imo than any other “spoof” wine he’s ever scored highly. The 2012 in no way resembles what Caymus once was, even the super ripe 2007. Call me or anyone else in agreement on this a snob, sure…but man, please at least taste the 2012 next to some other decent Napa Cabs and let us know what you think before judging too strongly.

(and dang it, I added more!)

55

I’m not normally one to have that kind of reaction to a wine - I almost always find something to appreciate or some way to enjoy the experience of drinking wines of all styles and levels. And I hadn’t read a single thing about the wine before it was served to me, nor have I had much Beringer or any particular like or dislike of Beringer overall heading in.

At least that night and that bottle, I found that to be bizarre and really, really bad. Maybe it was that it was a late add to the steakhouse dinner after the group had consumed three good bottles I had brought (03 Pavie Macquin, 05 Karl Lawrence cabernet, and an 06 Williams Selyem Feeney Zin), and the contrast made it seem worse than it would have been in another context?

I don’t know. Or maybe I’m just becoming a snob.

56

why doesn’t eevryone just wait 7 years and checkin again.

57

Personally, I can’t imagine this wine improving and I think the opposite will happen.

That said, I will absolutely cellar a bottle for 7 years and post a TN on WB.

(assuming both me & WB will still be around in 7! [snort.gif])

58

WB is going on 7 right now, actually!

59

champagne.gif [cheers.gif] [welldone.gif] [berserker.gif]

60

I am going to pull a Jon Stewart on you. Sorry could not resist. BTW I think this wine is atrocious.

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