Appellation: Napa Valley
44 lots hand-harvested and vinified separately: 20 lots selected for Cain Five

21 months

It could be said that 2000 was the third in a series of “winemaker’s” vintages. But those who tried to “make” their wine conform to a standard set of expectations may have been disappointed. 2000 was not a vintage to mess with—and it shows. Paradoxically, it turns out that the best wines (of which we would like to think Cain Five is one) were allowed to make themselves. 2000 was a late year, and it was critical to dodge a few rain events to find the best days to pick. Careful selection in the vineyard, patience in choosing when to harvest, gentle macerations, and a rigorous selection at blending have brought out the best of the vintage in our 2000 Cain Five.

Our winemaking is simple: We believe that red wine is a partial extraction of the grape. Our goal is to get what we want and to leave the rest behind. At Cain, this means hand picking, gentle destemming, native yeast fermentation, thoughtful maceration, and manual pressing. The wine completes malolactic fermentation in the barrel, is blended early, is racked barrel-to-barrel, is egg-white fined, and is bottled without filtration.

As always, we compose the blend following three essential desiderata: Complexity, Balance, and Persistence. Moderate yields, moderate temperatures, and complete but slow ripening in 2000 gave us wines with depth, concentration, and a solid core of dense, age-worthy tannins. If you’re seduced by aromas of mushrooms, forest floor, roast coffee, and berries, with a hint of barnyard, this is the wildest, smokiest Cain Five we have made to date. The deep color reveals what the palate confirms: this wine has the body and full rich mountain tannins to guarantee a long life, yet with a pleasingly refined mouth feel that carries to a long finish.

ABOUT CAIN VINEYARD & WINERY
Cain Vineyard & Winery overlooks St. Helena from the top of Spring Mountain in the western hills of Napa Valley. The estate vineyard is planted to the five classic Bordeaux varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec, and Petit Verdot. We make four wines: Cain Musqué (a Sauvignon Blanc from the Musqué clone); Cain Cuvée; Cain Concept, representing the classical benchlands of the Napa Valley; and our signature blend, Cain Five.

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