FALL 2007

Dear Friends,

Each time we approach the release of a new vintage at Cain, we hold our breath. After the wine has been in the bottle for a year or more, the harvest is almost forgotten (we’ve had two more harvests since then), and the vintage has begun to fade from memory. Today, we have just finished bottling the 2005s, we are working hard on the 2006s, and we are (somewhat nervously and excitedly) preparing for the 2007 harvest, which will begin in a couple of weeks.

So we come to the 2004 Cain Concept with a fresh palate and a clear mind. More than a reacquaintance, it's like a discovery, maybe a bit like getting to know your child after he or she has returned from college and has started to become an adult. Our question is not so much “What have we done?” but, rather, “What has this wine become?”

If you liked the 2003 Cain Concept, you’ll love our 2004. You will find all the same warmth and generosity, the same beguiling sweetness and roundness that typifies the classic benchland Cabernets of the Napa Valley—but with more substance. With the same attractive entry of the previous vintage, today, the 2004 exhibits more fruit density at the core. There is a bit more muscle on the bone here—as if the wine were accustomed to regular exercise, it is less a creature of the “salon” and more of an “outdoorsy” type. There’s no doubt that the 2003 is more open, more immediately accessible—it says “Drink me now!”—so you should drink your 2003 while you’re waiting a few more months or years for the 2004 to develop and mature. Today, the 2004 is a very serious wine—if you are patient, it will become sensuous.

The substance and character of the 2004 Concept can best be explained by the conditions of the vintage which are typified by lower yields and moderate ripening, followed by heat just before harvest. These two features rarely coincide, and, in fact, the last time might have been ten years earlier. Essentially, we picked all the lots for the Cain Concept in mid-September, which I think is just about ideal. According to the notes of our Associate Winemaker, François Bugué (he keeps track of everything), we had a rainy winter followed by a wonderfully warm and dry March—perfect for an early, clean budbreak to start the growing season. But then it cooled off, especially during bloom, thus reducing the crop. So the set-up looks like this: a relatively early year with relatively low yield. Summer remained cool, giving the fruit lots of time to develop, and then, just before harvest, it finally got really warm (into the 90s), the fruit just finished ripening, and we picked. So we have fully ripe, dense fruit—perfect for aging and developing a really complex wine.

As you know, “the concept of the Concept” is all about an expression of the benchlands of the Napa Valley, so the foundation of this blend is Cabernet Sauvignon from the Rutherford and Oakville Benches. These Cabernets are so smooth and polished that they rarely need any help to balance the palate. We find almost the perfect entry, middle, and finish that we’re looking for in all of our blends. But these wines can seem almost too perfect, and to our taste, simple—so (as you’d expect from Cain, of course) we blend. We find that a judicious amount of Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Merlot will give the wine more life and dimension without obscuring the signature style of benchland Cabernet Sauvignon.

Finally, you’ll note a subtle evolution in the package of the 2004 Cain Concept: this is the first vintage to employ the exact same bottle and quality of cork that we’ve been using since 1994 for our Cain Five. The significance to us is that we expect the Cain Concept to be measured by the same standard as the Cain Five. We work just as hard on both wines—they both receive the same attention—but the key and most interesting difference between these two wines are the vineyards from which they come.

Everyone who sees the Cain Vineyard realizes that there is something unique about it. In fact, everything is unique about it: from the massive “La Piedra” (meaning rock) which dominates the landscape, the dramatic exposures, the uniquely poor soils in which our vines struggle, to the spectacular views. It is no wonder that the wine from the vineyard is equally unique and compelling.

We’ve been enjoying the 2003 Cain Five since its release this past January. We’ve seen it evolve and lose some of its rough edges. The wine is profoundly complex, and it truly rewards the attentive wine lover. As good as this wine is, in a few years it will be better still in magnum. If you really want to see what the Cain Five has become, and if they are still available, I encourage you to get a couple of magnums and forget about drinking them for five or ten years.

Thank you for your support of our work at Cain,

Christopher Howell
General Manager/Winemaker