1990 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Special Selection

The 1990 Cabernet Sauvignon-Special Selection appears to be the best Caymus has produced since 1986 and 1985. Two thousand, six-bottle cases will be released in February, 1994. The wine offers a saturated, dark purple color, and a rich, spicy, oaky nose backed up by generous quantities of jammy blackcurrants. Ripe, highly extracted, and full-bodied, with copious amounts of sweet tannin and layers of fruit, this is a knock-out, flamboyantly-styled Cabernet for drinking over the next 15 or more years. The Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon, which spends significant time in oak, can be one of California's most riveting wines. First made in 1975, there have been some exceptionally concentrated, powerful wines that are still young and evolving (i.e, the 1978, 1976, and 1975). The decade of the eighties produced less profound Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignons, with the exception of the 1984 and 1985. Since then, the wine has moved to less of a blockbuster style, with the emphasis on more elegance, without sacrificing the wine's richness and intensity. There is no doubting that Cabernet Sauvignon is King at Caymus. For nearly twenty years this winery has excelled at producing boldly-flavored, ripe, concentrated regular bottlings and lavishly-oaked, big, spicy, luxury-priced Special Selection offerings. The regular bottling went through a shaky period with the so-so years of 1988 and 1989, but based on barrel samples of the 1992 and 1991, Caymus has two winners for this reasonably-priced, rich, oaky, cassis-scented, medium to full-bodied, supple-textured wine. Few wineries in the world can boast such an enviable record of consistent excellence as that of Caymus.