They also recognize this region as having huge potential for great wine, sharing the same characteristics of Napa Valley but with a few differences that lend to suitability for other varietals, 23 different varieties to be specific, petite sirah, merlot and cabernet sauvignon among them. remembers dirt roads and when wine tasting was only a few bucks, if not free. Their Patwin word “Suisun” translates to “‘where the west wind blows,” an elemental and powerful force still here today.Ĭhuck says that this area reminds him of Napa in the 1970s, those days when Charlie Jr.
The Suisun, the Indigenous Patwin tribe of Wintun people, originated in this part of Solano County. Having farmed in this valley for many years, just a stone’s throw east of Napa and functioning as an AVA since the early 1980s, the Wagners decided to launch the Suisun Valley tasting room facility in 2019. Younger brother Joe Wagner is also in the wine industry: he started his single-vineyard pinot noir label, Belle Glos, to honor his grandmother, Lorna Belle Glos Wagner. Today, both Chuck and Charlie, as well as sister Jenny, collaborate on the winemaking and operations for all the brands, split out between them but with crossovers. At age 19, their son Chuck became a major player in the business when the family took the leap in starting a commercial winery. Well after the late 1800s, the story continues with Lorna and Charlie Sr., who grew up a mile apart in Rutherford and ended up marrying and launching Caymus Vineyards in 1972 with 240 cases of cabernet sauvignon. All for legit reasons, as the deep history and the Wagner name means something in this part of the world, and beyond. The main Caymus tasting room in Rutherford is appropriately idyllic and vast, with credibility that attracts the throngs of Napa visitors. Work certainly didn’t feel like work … it still doesn’t.” This is a testament to his family, of which he and his siblings are the fifth generation, a legacy that began in the 1800s with the Glos, Stice and Wagner families that helped shape early wine farming and making in the Napa Valley.Īnd while Wagner can still remember Napa before streetlights, and long before an overnight hotel stay cost more than $1,000, his lifetime so far is a blip on the family tree that spans hundreds of years back to the generations before him, all building a pioneering wine brand that now includes eight diverse labels. When asked if he ever considered doing anything other than working in the wine industry, he says, “It was just life. He spends his days split between his home in Napa and in Suisun Valley, the newest winery locale for the brand. Today, Wagner is “ultimately a farmer and winemaker,” he says, leading Mer Soleil, Conundrum and Red Schooner, which all fall under the Wagner family of wines portfolio. As the years progressed, Wagner and his friends’ first jobs were on the bottling line for minimum wage, and they spent their adolescence in vineyards the way some of us spent it in shopping malls and coffee shops.
#Caymus suisun winery how to#
While other kids his age were learning how to ride bikes, he was shoveling grape skins out of a tank at his family’s winery in Napa, and he loved every minute of it. Charlie Wagner was seven years old, he played among wine barrels.
0 kommentar(er)
