Cain Cuvee NV9

If you have enjoyed our prior “vintages” of Cain Cuvée, you will love the NV09. Those of you who have followed our Cain Cuvée know that it is not your typical Napa red wine; no big, inky, oaky blockbuster here. Our Cuvée is intended to sit lightly, refreshingly (dare I write, lovingly?) on your palate. There is all the fruit that you could want, but the Cain Cuvée is not fruit juice. It is, most assuredly, fine wine for serious wine-lovers who value complexity, balance and finish. The Cain Cuvée is for those who know that wine doesn’t have to be big to be good.

The facts will explain nothing. The NV09 is 53% Merlot (the balance being Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot), and it’s a blend of two vintages: 2009 (57%) and 2008 (43%). What sets the wine apart is how it tastes. Here is what I wrote: This has everything I want in a red wine: smooth entry, mouth filling, sits gently and lightly on the palate, just enough mouthwatering tannins to cleanse the palate. Aromas of black cherries, red cherries, cigar box. Core of red fruit carries through from beginning to end. Nicely refined. Nothing sticks out. The blend is three key lots of Merlot picked in 2009, and vinified to be light and fresh. This delicate cuvée gets more structure and more aromatics from wines we vinified in 2008 from our neighbor on Spring Mountain, York Creek Vineyards. A soupçon of some of the lightest wines from our Cain Vineyard adds a beguiling note of complexity.