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zzz... SOLD OUT: Red Schooner Voyage 11 (No shipping / pick-up only)

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Product Description

Red Schooner (by Caymus)

Red Wine of the World

Normally $50 per bottle

 

Charlie Wagner told me this story over the phone a few years ago, and hopefully I don’t spill any sensitive trade secrets here…

 

The Voyage all started back in 2009 at the Caymus Winery in Napa.  A winery only has so many fermentation tanks, and usually things flow really well around harvest. Different grapes and vineyards ripen at different rates, and normally a harvest that comes in can be fermented and then moved to tanks or barrels to age just as the next harvest is coming in. The 2009 growing season ended with everything ripening at about the same time and the Wagner’s were left with full fermentation tanks and a very large load of freshly picked Cabernet Sauvignon sitting on the winery’s doorstep. This is a very big problem because fermentation cannot be rushed and the Cabernet grapes were in danger of starting fermentation inside the berry themselves due to the temperature. So Charlie Wagner took the load of grapes to a nearby commercial refrigeration unit to keep them cool until it was their turn to go in the tanks. I can’t imagine the feeling in Charlie’s stomach when he returned to find that the grapes were over-chilled and actually frozen! Frantic research and phone calls followed the discovery and yielded a method of defrosting in stages - and holding temperatures for days at a time in order to keep the berries from turning to mush. It worked. The vintage went off without a hitch and was met with acclaim from the critics who were unaware of the mishap.

 

Charlie was quick to put this newfound knowledge to work. In 2010 he contacted a Malbec farming friend in Mendoza, Argentina, and flew down for the harvest in the spring. They flash-froze the grapes right in the vineyard with dry ice, sent them on a truck over the Andes Mountains to a port in Chile. From there, they were put on a container ship (a new world ‘schooner’ as it were) and finally delivered the grapes to Caymus Winery in Napa Valley - a little over a month later. The grapes were then thawed and vinified no differently than the Cabernet Sauvignon that paved the way a season earlier.

 

Now I know that other producers buy bulk juice from other countries, but as far as I know, this is the only example of anyone actually bringing grapes across the world. The final bottle of wine

was made during Spring in California (Autumn in Argentina) so it cannot have a vintage date.

It is not completely from Argentina or Napa, so it cannot be labeled with either as a designation, or even a grape!  Make no mistake though, this is Malbec at its finest!

 

Tasting Notes: A dense, dark red, this wine opens up with the scent of ripe plums and cherries,

layered with hints of dark chocolate. On the palate, it is powerful, concentrated, supple and

persistent, with generous favors of French oak that support but don’t dominate.

 

In the bottle: Red Wine of the World otherwise known as Malbec, even though they can’t say it

Aging: 12 months French oak with 50% new


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