Winemaker Notes
Opaque crimson color, intriguing nose of freshly tilled Napa vineyard soil. The presence of this wine includes fine textural components balanced by an array of flavors including; ripe cherry, dried rose petal, cacao, mocha and cassis. A seamless, rich and alluring,youthful Napa Cabernet. I find this vintage perfectly complex and balanced. This will go down in our books as a difficult year that yielded a small production of very fine wine.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A seductive style that’s openly fruity, showing supple plum and black cherry notes, with floral scents and spices, turning creamy and gaining a mocha-espresso-vanilla scent that’s enticing. Finishes with a smooth texture, fine-grained tannins and then another burst of fruit.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Special Selection is, big, rich, voluptuous and totally sexy. Mocha, chocolate, plums, sweet spices and black cherries jump from the glass in this full-bodied, intense wine. This is one of the more immediate wines of the vintage, but all the elements are very nicely balanced. Once again Caymus has produced a gorgeous Special Selection that is delicious on its own, but that is also remarkable for a relatively large production of 9,600 cases that will make it easy to find.
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Wine & Spirits
Heady and polished this is a rich Napa valley cabernet focused on sweet black fruit. It's based on a mic of owned and leased vineyards in eight Napa sub AVAs, 75 percent in the valley, the balance on hillsides or higher into the mountains. New French oak comes across in scents of espresso-roast coffee and cedar, while the fruit has blue black depths of plum skin. it's tight and relatively austere for this style of Napa Valley cabernet, needing bottle age to show its best.
One of the most prestigious wines of the world capable of great power and grace, Napa Valley Cabernet is a leading force in the world of fine, famous, collectible red wine. Today the Napa Valley and Cabernet Sauvignon are so intrinsically linked that it is difficult to discuss one without the other. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that this marriage came to light; sudden international recognition rained upon Napa with the victory of the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1976 Judgement of Paris.
Cabernet Sauvignon undoubtedly dominates Napa Valley today, covering half of the land under vine, commanding the highest prices per ton and earning the most critical acclaim. Cabernet Sauvignon’s structure, acidity, capacity to thrive in multiple environs and ability to express nuances of vintage make it perfect for Napa Valley where incredible soil and geographical diversity are found and the climate is perfect for grape growing. Within the Napa Valley lie many smaller sub-AVAs that express specific characteristics based on situation, slope and soil—as a perfect example, Rutherford’s famous dust or Stags Leap District's tart cherry flavors.