Friday night dinner at a nice steakhouse. Special promotion on 2008 Caymus. $80 with the warning that it’s really young and really big. Cool, I tend to drink things on the younger side and don’t mind a wrestling match with some aggressive tannins that haven’t mellowed yet. So the idea of a young big unrestrained California cab isn’t outside my range of experience and comfort.
Cork is popped and a small taste poured. Smells very true to form. Palate is a lot of black fruit and tight tannins. I have high hopes as we let it breath in its decanter for about 45 minutes while we enjoy a different bottle we brought with us.
The time comes and it goes into glasses. Nose is still great, black fruit, some robust floral notes, maybe a little coffee. Palate is…indescribably bad. Maple syrup and vanilla. Tannins and any other fruit are in hiding. Completely out of balance and quite honestly undrinkable. Four of us at the table, none of us new to wine, all agree and have the same impressions. Of course we were getting elements of oak aging which hadn’t smoothed out yet due to the young age of the wine. But none of us had ever experienced it to that degree or sickeningly sweet level. Apparently the table next to us had a bottle and loved it. Our waiter, who we know from frequently visiting the restaurant and who knows wine, says it must just be “too big” for us. I have not met such a wine to-date and don’t describe this sweet mess as “too big”. I asked him to taste it and tell us if this is consistent with other bottles; but apparently the rejected decanter has been wisked away to who-knows-where before I think to do this.
So, has anyone had this? Am I nuts? Did we have a flawed bottle (though I can’t think which of the textbook flaws I’d write this off to)? I can’t believe in my wine drinking career that I just now for the first time hit a perfectly fine specimen that I’ve never experienced before and that my palate couldn’t explain or acclimate to. Nor that 4 of us could all agree and the table next door could be happily sipping away on their bottle.
For what it’s worth, CT notes include a few references to “overly sweet” and “too oaky” but everyone then procceds to give it 90+ points.
While I haven’t had the 2008, Caymus is the Big McLargeHuge of California Cabernet. Many hate it, many like it. Given recent price cuts I stick to buying the SS now, I find the regular Caymus seems to fall apart quickly (but sure is tasty off the spigot).
At one restaurant, a fellow at the next table steadily rotated his open Caymus CS bottle back and forth, by roughly forty-five degrees at a time, even while not pouring a single drop or reading the back label. I wanted to ask if he needed flashing lights, like those atop ghetto bodega awnings, to ensure that every other diner was aware of his treasured stash. He seemed upset when I asked if Caymus is the second label of Kendall Jackson Vintners Reserve.
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