2002 marks the fourteenth vintage of Cain Musqué and our twelfth consecutive vintage from the Ventana Vineyard in Monterey County. This wine, like all previous vintages, is made from the unique Musqué selection of Sauvignon Blanc. Grown in the cold climate and sandy soils of Ventana Vineyard, the fruit epitomizes the subtle, pink grapefruit, citrus and mineral aspects of this highly flavored grape. Our goal is to accentuate these characteristics and, like the finest terroir-based Sauvignons from the world over, produce a wine that is bracingly crisp and balanced.

Cain is dedicated to Cabernet Blends; our Cain Musqué is a labor of love. Our goal is to create a small amount of Sauvignon Blanc of great distinction.

The Vineyard: Cain Musqué is a single-vineyard wine grown in the Arroyo Seco appellation. The temperate winter temperatures of this area lead to an early bud break. The cold, windy summer, along with the weak sand-and-gravel soil of the Ventana Vineyard, naturally limits the yield and leads to a late harvest. The fruit is intensely flavored with high natural acidity. We have selected a small nine-acre parcel on a rise where the stones are largest, the soil is weakest, and the vines are the least vigorous.

The Vintage: The vintage was, again, slightly warmer than normal in Monterey County, and we picked at a slightly higher level of brix than in previous years. We initiated an aggressive program of canopy management, thinning shoots and pulling leaves, opening the fruit up to more air and light. Our goal was achieving more “golden clusters” of grapes ripening fully and evenly. The extra ripeness we achieved was just enough to highlight and accentuate the best attributes of the pink grapefruit, green berry, and citrus flavors we strive for.

The Winemaking: Characterized more by what we don’t do than by what we do: no machine harvesting, no destemming, no acid adjustment, no yeast inoculation, no malolactic fermentation, no new oak, and no filtration.

The Cain Musqué was handpicked and immediately whole-cluster pressed, chilled and put to barrel. The must was fermented to dryness by indigenous yeast in older French barrels. This vintage received extra barrel time, aging on the lees for a full year. The wine, which was not filtered, was bottled in August of 2003.

What to do with this wine? The nose is aromatic; the palate is crisp and dry with a round, lingering finish. I think that the wine goes best with seafood, especially shellfish.