Curious. Nickel&Nickel, Caymus, Or Cakebread?

My sister works at a Del Friscos and she’s been asking me which one I like most since these are the wines most customers ask for when ordering cabs.

Just wondering which of these 3 would you order if you had to make a choice at dinner. (wonder how many snobby fruit bomb comments we’ll get).

I personally haven’t tried even tried Cakebread.

My vote would go to Nickel & Nickel.

Caymus has all the residual sugar - be sure to save that for the dessert course. . Between the other two I would probably pick the Nickel & Nickel, if given the choice. I have a couple of buddies who each own a ton of N&N cabs, and usually enjoy the bottles that they open.

Of course, Nickel & Nickel makes a wide range of vineyard designates from all over Napa Valley - depending upon your preferences you very well might like some of them more than Cakebread, and others less.

Caymus all the way. Mix in some ginger ale and it’s even better.

And it’s gotta be totally awesome in blueberry Jello.

I’ve actually only tried Caymus, but can I assume that Nickel & Nickel and Cakebread are similar in flavor profile?

Nickel & Nickel by far.

I have not tasted a Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley since December of 2014, to the best of my feeble recollection.

In my retail days, the regional representative of N&N came and coordinated a couple of dinners, which I was granted free meals and tastings. The Chardonnay wines and Syrahs were very solid and well-behaved. I actually enjoyed most of the Cabernet Single-Vineyard wines as well (not so much jammy, however strongly imbued with American Oak flavors).

The line-up at the time was from the 1998 to 2003 vintages, and the areas of Napa were well-represented (Oakville, Rutherford, Diamond Mountain, Howell Mountain, Yountville…). The wines did exhibit different “personalities”, as the business model suggested, yet I would hope for a more subtle hand from the winemaker. In my opinion, that is the greatest failure of such an expensive venture into the world of Napa Cabs - why tread so heavily over the sites you seek to represent?

Having said that, I would recommend the Rock Cairn and the Vogt Vineyard Cabs.

I have only had a few of each but if I had to pick one it would be Cakebread. The don’t like the Caymus style, at least not the current style. The Nickel & Nickel wines have just underwhelmed me and at least in my market cost more than the cakebread. I haven’t had a Cakebread in many years but did like a few of the 1999s. So given that I have had positive experience with them in the past, I would try them again.

Side note, I will visit cakebread in October. Going to Napa/Sonoma with a group and a good number of the group wanted to go to Cakebread so I intend to taste with an open mind.

Caymus - massively overwhelming

Nickel & Nickel - underwhelming

So out of curiosity, I’d try the Cakebread. It’s been years.

Del Frisco’s has a great Scotch list.

We did cabs blind a few months back, and 2008 Cakebread Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Benchland Select beat out some stiff competition. Several of us were guessing Mondavi reserve.

Caymus- stay away. Was good years ago but have devolved into fruit forward bombs. Most casual wine drinkers still think Caymus is an upper tier winery, but too extracted and manipulated for my tastes.

Cakebread is solid, depending on the particular wine. The Dancing Bear Ranch out of their Howell Mountain site is always a very solid effort. Tasted the 2012 a couple weeks ago and it was delicious.

N&N wines are very good, but slightly overpriced IMO. Love their concept of terroir driven wines, and the Beatty Ranch (Howell), Sori Bricco (Diamond Mountain) as well as Element 28 (St Helena) never disappoint (purposely forgetting the 2011 vintage).

As you mentioned specific wines that I had forgotten about, I would like to say that the Sori Bricco was an impressive one. The Suscol Ranch, which is in the cooler Southern reaches (is it still owned by Hess?), was nice, as well.

I am curious about the new Element 21 site. As the Lake Hennessey area is booming, I suppose that they had to jump on the bandwagon. For the record, I agree with others that these wines are overpriced.

How is the Element 21?

They are all overpriced IMO.

Nickle & Nickle is by far the best of the three. There are lots of different single vineyards to pick from that do offer some variety. Some better than others. But of the three, I’d take a N&N any day over those other two.

Cakebread Napa or Cakebread Single Vineyards? If the Napa, not really a fair fight with the N&N… But the single vineyards should stand up. I’d shy away from recent vintages of Caymus…

Cakebread Vine Hill Ranch is solid, but the Dancing Bear is head and shoulders the best version they offer. If you like big bold mountain fruit, its tough to beat…

I visited Cakebread last week and can say that I would be comfortable ordering them in a restaurant. Nothing we tasted blew me away but nothing was bad either. Even the reserve chard that isn’t my style was well made. We tasted the basic Napa cab and it’s a sold wine that would go down easy with a steak.

BTW, they have the tour down to a science. If you have to visit Napa with folks who are casual wine drinkers, this is a great first stop and they do a good job of covering the basics in an easy to follow manner and without pretense. It saved me a lot of explaining later.

I recomend the Nickel. Caymus is good but a tad sweet. Cakebread is good but not as good as the Nickel. However if you want a good Chardonnay go with the Cakebread. It super good.

Having had a few different cab vintages of all 3, Nickel and Nickel .

Nickel & Nickel, then Cakebread.

JF

For whom are you buying the wine? Quiet dinner with one other and those are my three options, Cakebread or Nickel. Group of 10 guys and gals, of whom I’m the only wine geek? Caymus. Can I reach for a Cakebread benchland or dancing bear, because if so I’d rather have that than any other offering from Caymus or Nickel. And don’t get me wrong, the normal Cakebread isn’t bad. I might take that over the Nickel. If I’m buying a couple bottles, it might be fun to try the Nickel Tench v. Nickel Rock Cairn.

We all know what Caymus is. I think I’ve probably had just about every vintage from 2001 forward, almost exclusively at business dinners and, on the occasion, as a gift from a friend who knows I like wine. I doubt it has residual sugar, but it certainly tastes sweet, thick, and massive. And for what it is, I’ll even step out and say it’s well made, extremely consistent, performs well blind in like company, and is a people pleaser. To some degree, it even reflects vintage conditions. But it is what it is…a heavily oaked bombastic fruit forward high alcohol Napa cab. It is not Corison Kronos, or some 80s vintage of Mayacamas.

I’ve had the least experience with just plain old Cakebread. The difference, from what I recall, is that it’s a little bit more acidic and a bit lower abv than Caymus. It’s a more mid-bodied wine than Caymus. If you lean even a little AFWE, and disdain Caymus, you should lean towards Cakebread, albeit not perhaps towards 2013’s vintage with it’s big fruit (and acidity to balance…per winery).

Nickel & Nickel is a bit of a conundrum for me. I so badly want to love the wines. I love the idea of a bunch of single vineyard wines from all over Napa. What a neat way to taste terroir. But the desire to love the wines hasn’t played out in reality. I’ve never once been blown away by any of the Nickel & Nickel wines. They’re pretty well made, and pretty good, and pretty balanced for the most part. But I don’t recall drinking one, and I’d guess I’ve had a dozen, that made me stop and say, hey, this is really good stuff.