Cain Vineyard Cain Five 2011 (1.5L) *
Product price
$308.99
Description
A Bordeaux-style blend built on Cabernet Sauvignon (68%), with Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and a splash of Malbec filling out the frame, this is the 2011 Cain Five from Cain Vineyard & Winery in California. The fruit comes off a site of thin clay and sandstone soils with steep, extreme exposures. Grapes are cooled overnight in the cellar, destemmed, and sent into tank as semi-whole berries, where native fermentation takes hold after a couple of days. The wine then goes to barrel, half of it new French oak with medium toast, and the final blend is assembled in spring.
The color is a luminous medium ruby, and the nose leads with something earthy and loamy before opening into a striking sweep of dried herbs, thyme, sage, rosemary, and fennel, the kind of aromatic scrub that grows around the property. Behind that come black tea, star anise, leather, and tobacco. The tannins are muscular but finely polished, layered over a fresh core, and a saline mineral thread runs through the blackcurrant fruit and ties it all together.
Expert Reviews
The 2011 Cain Five, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (68%), Merlot (20%), Cabernet Franc (5%), Petit Verdot (5%), Malbec (2%), was tasted in early September of 2024 with Chris Howell and Katie Lazar, winegrowers and co-general managers of Cain Vineyard & Winery. It showed a beautiful medium, luminous, ruby colour. Complex and inviting aromas of rich, loamy, with a wonderfully fragrant dried herb character, much like the tarweed growing around the property, sticky with thyme, sage, rosemary, and fennel elements. Notes of black tea, star anise, leather, and tobacco follow. Incredibly muscular tannins are superfine, polished, and layered atop this fresh wine, with its rich vein of saline minerality that courses through and weaves itself around blackcurrant fruit. The grapes are cooled in the cellar overnight, destemmed, and semi-whole berries go into the tank. Native fermentation kicks off after a couple of days. The wine is racked into barrels—50% new French oak with medium toasts. Blending occurs in the spring. The vineyard site has mostly thin clay and sandstone soils with extreme exposures. (Decanter, September 2024)