Caymus Vineyards

Carl Wagner, an immigrant from Alsace, bought farmland in Rutherford in 1906, and the Wagner family built a winery in 1915 to produce bulk wines, a business Prohibition closed in 1919. Carl's son Charlie Wagner was born on the family farm in 1912 and in 1934 married Lorna Belle Glos, whose Glos and Stice ancestors had a long history of viticulture and winemaking in Napa Valley. In 1941 Charlie and Lorna Wagner bought 73 acres near the family farm in Rutherford, where they planted fruit orchards and wine grapes. In the 1960s Charlie Wagner pulled out the orchards to plant Pinot Noir, Johannisberg Riesling and a clone of Cabernet Sauvignon acquired from Stags Leap grower Nathan Fay, and the family sold grapes to Inglenook and Sonoma Vineyards, among others. In 1972 Charlie, Lorna and their son Chuck Wagner established Caymus Vineyards; Chuck was 19 when his parents asked him to go all in on creating a commercial winery. The name comes from Rancho Caymus, a Mexican land grant given to George Yount in 1836 that had once encompassed their land. Charlie Wagner Sr. handled the winemaking for the first several vintages with advice from friends including André Tchelistcheff, and in 1975 Randy Dunn was hired as the first winemaker; he made the wines through the 1985 vintage. Chuck Wagner became director of all viticulture and winemaking in 1984, and the 40th vintage of Caymus Cabernet was bottled in 2012. Caymus remains 100% family-owned and run.

• 1906: Carl Wagner buys farmland in Rutherford; 1915: the family builds a winery for bulk wines, closed by Prohibition in 1919.
• 1941: Charlie and Lorna Wagner buy 73 acres in Rutherford; 1960s: the orchards give way to Pinot Noir, Johannisberg Riesling and a Cabernet Sauvignon clone from Nathan Fay.
• 1972: Charlie, Lorna and Chuck Wagner establish Caymus Vineyards; 1975: Special Selection is introduced and Randy Dunn is hired as the first winemaker.
• 1984: Chuck Wagner becomes director of all viticulture and winemaking; 2012: the 40th vintage of Caymus Cabernet is bottled.

Chuck Wagner continues to produce the two Caymus Cabernet Sauvignons, Caymus Napa Valley and Caymus Special Selection, and is head of winemaking for Bonanza, a California Cabernet Sauvignon; he also produces Caymus-Suisun Grand Durif, a Petite Sirah from Suisun Valley. His son Charlie Wagner is behind Mer Soleil in the Santa Lucia Highlands, leads Conundrum and Red Schooner, and launched Sea Sun. His daughter Jenny Wagner makes the Emmolo wines, oversees hillside Zinfandel and experimental varieties under the Caymus-Suisun label, and is winemaker for The Walking Fool Red Blend. Co-founders Charlie Wagner Sr. (1912-2002) and Lorna Belle Glos Wagner (1915-2013) worked with Chuck for decades.

• Chuck Wagner (co-founder): Caymus Napa Valley, Caymus Special Selection, Bonanza and Caymus-Suisun Grand Durif.
• Charlie Wagner: Mer Soleil, Conundrum, Red Schooner and Sea Sun.
• Jenny Wagner: Emmolo, Caymus-Suisun Zinfandel and experimental varieties, The Walking Fool Red Blend.

The winery is at 8700 Conn Creek Road in Rutherford, in the center of Napa Valley. Its primary production is Cabernet Sauvignon grown on low-fertility soils on both the valley floor and the mountains that surround the valley. The 2018 Caymus Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon was sourced from vineyards in eight of Napa Valley's sub-appellations. Farming includes some dry farming, high-density plantings with some blocks spaced as close as a meter by a meter, thinning of the yield, and harvesting at an elevated degree of ripeness. Caymus California Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from sites throughout the state, from Paso Robles to lesser-known areas in Lake, San Benito and Monterey Counties.

• The 2018 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon drew on vineyards in eight Napa Valley sub-appellations.
• Some dry farming, high-density plantings, yield thinning and harvest at an elevated degree of ripeness.
• California Cabernet sources run from Paso Robles to Lake, San Benito and Monterey Counties.

Caymus makes two Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons, Caymus Napa Valley and Caymus Special Selection. Each year the best barrels of the Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon are set aside for Special Selection, which began in 1975 when Chuck Wagner and his father noticed a few barrels that tasted better than the rest and bottled them under a new label. A limited bottling of Napa Valley Zinfandel honors co-founder Charlie Wagner Sr., for whom it was a favorite. Caymus California Cabernet Sauvignon, a California-appellation wine, was introduced with the 2021 vintage. Tastings at the Rutherford winery include Caymus Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley and Caymus Vineyards Special Selection.

• Caymus Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.
• Caymus Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon: the best barrels of each year, first made in 1975.
• Napa Valley Zinfandel: a limited bottling honoring Charlie Wagner Sr.
• Caymus California Cabernet Sauvignon: introduced with the 2021 vintage.

Caymus calls its Cabernet 'dark and concentrated, with ripe, luxurious, fruit-driven softness that shows from the day of release,' with sufficient tannins and structure for long-term bottle aging. Of the California Cabernet Sauvignon, the winery writes: 'With ripe fruit and luxurious tannins, this wine reveals the Caymus character, and is drinkable upon release or with age.'

Caymus Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon was named Wine Spectator's Wine of the Year in 1989 with the 1984 vintage and in 1994 with the 1990 vintage. As of November 2010, Wine Spectator recorded it as the only wine to have won that honor twice.

Primary sources (producer's own sites): https://www.caymus.com/, https://www.caymus.com/caymus-california-cab/, https://www.wagnerfamilyofwine.com/, https://www.wagnerfamilyofwine.com/our-family/history/, https://www.wagnerfamilyofwine.com/our-family/timeline/, https://www.wagnerfamilyofwine.com/our-family/our-family/, https://www.wagnerfamilyofwine.com/come-visit/caymus-vineyards/. Secondary sources: Wine Spectator (https://www.winespectator.com/articles/the-story-of-caymus-past-present-and-future-111523, https://www.winespectator.com/articles/twenty-plus-years-of-wine-spectators-top-100-44051) and The Napa Wine Project (https://www.napawineproject.com/caymus-vineyards/). Last verified 2026-10-14. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.