Cain Vineyard Cain Five 2011 (750ml) *
Product price
$154.99
Description
A five-grape Bordeaux blend built in California, this 2011 from Cain Vineyard leads with Cabernet Sauvignon (68%) and fills out with Merlot (20%), then smaller measures of Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec. The winemaking leans traditional and hands-off: grapes cooled overnight in the cellar, destemmed with some berries left whole, and a native fermentation that starts on its own 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 the following spring. The site itself runs to thin clay and sandstone with steep, extreme exposures.
The color is a luminous medium ruby, and the nose is where this wine gets interesting: loamy and complex, threaded with dried herbs (thyme, sage, rosemary, fennel) that echo the tarweed growing around the property, then black tea, star anise, leather, and tobacco. The tannins are the surprise, muscular but superfine and polished, layered over a fresh core. A saline mineral streak runs the length of it, wrapping itself around blackcurrant fruit and pulling everything taut.
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)