{"id":1142,"date":"2018-12-31T15:42:19","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T15:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1142"},"modified":"2019-01-03T20:12:47","modified_gmt":"2019-01-03T20:12:47","slug":"cain-vineyard-and-winery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1142","title":{"rendered":"Cain Vineyard and Winery"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a lot to be said for knowing what you do well and only doing that.\u00a0 Cain Vineyard and Winery makes Bordeaux blends, three of them to be precise.\u00a0 No single varietals.\u00a0 No white wine. \u00a0Just red blends. Even if you\u2019re not a big fan of big California wines, a visit to Cain can be very rewarding.\u00a0 (And why would you visit Napa Valley if you don\u2019t like big California wines, made from the signature grapes of the region?)<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t go to Cain just because you happened to be passing by.\u00a0 For one thing, visits are by appointment only and they mean it.\u00a0 More important, Cain is near the pinnacle of Spring Mountain, way up in the Mayacamas range.\u00a0 There are a few other wineries higher on the hill, but in general there\u2019s no way that you\u2019d ever be just passing by.\u00a0 If you do go wine tasting at Cain, you mean to go there.<\/p>\n

Be prepared for a winding drive of 45 minutes to an hour if you\u2019re coming from down in the valley.\u00a0 But what you get when you arrive is worth the trip.\u00a0 First and maybe foremost, is the view.\u00a0 The Cain web site (https:\/\/cainfive.com\/<\/a>) makes much of that view and rightly so.\u00a0 The terraced vineyards nestled in the high hills make a stunning sight.\u00a0 Much though we don\u2019t like getting up early, not even to go wine tasting, we recommend that you make an appointment for the 10:00 tasting.\u00a0 On many days, you will be greeted by the view of the vines above<\/em> the clouds.\u00a0 It is truly a unique Napa Valley vista.<\/p>\n

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Cain\u2019s vines above the clouds.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of Edible Arts.<\/em><\/p>\n

The winery itself is a stylish stone building, more interesting for its restraint than for any particular architectural flourishes, of which there are more than enough in Napa Valley.\u00a0 Once the group of reserved visitors has arrived, they are taken on a tour of the working winery.\u00a0 It is essentially the same as any such tour, but we have found the guides to be quite knowledgeable about the way that Cain makes its wines, so you do get an interesting perspective on the wines you are soon to taste.<\/p>\n

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The Cain tasting room.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of Cain Vineyards and Winery.<\/em><\/p>\n

The seated tasting is your chance to taste their wines in a rather grand salon. As noted, they make three wines.\u00a0 The best known is Cain Five, which is always made of the five Bordeaux grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec.\u00a0 Cain was among the first to honor the wines of Bordeaux in this fashion, although ironically the Bordelais themselves rarely use all five.\u00a0 Importantly, all the grapes in Cain Five are estate grown up on Spring Mountain.<\/p>\n

Cain Concept is made from grapes grown down the hill, in \u201cthe Benchland\u201d as they say.\u00a0 And Cain Cuv\u00e9e is made from sourced grapes from both mountain and valley vineyards.\u00a0 While there is no question that Cain Five is their premier wine, a tasting at Cain gives an unusual opportunity to compare wines made from the same grapes in the same manner by the same winemaker, varying mountain and valley fruit.<\/p>\n

For those interested in such things, Cain Five regularly receives high numbers from the ratings magazines. \u00a0For those just interested in a unique wine tasting experience, take the drive up the mountain to Cain.<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s a lot to be said for knowing what you do well and only doing that.\u00a0 Cain Vineyard and Winery makes Bordeaux blends, three of them to be precise.\u00a0 No single varietals.\u00a0 No white wine. \u00a0Just red blends. Even if you\u2019re not a big fan of big California wines, a visit to Cain can be … Continue reading Cain Vineyard and Winery<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1142"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1160,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142\/revisions\/1160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}