Cain Vineyard & Winery

Cain Vineyard & Winery is in Spring Mountain District which is in the west of St. Helena, Napa, and on the foothill of the Mayacamas Mountains.
After three miles of mountain drive, we found the beautiful winery behind trees.

The winery is on the valley slope, and vineyards are on both hillsides and valley floor.
Cool ocean breezes come from between the mountains and moderate temperature.
The slopes enjoy the sun exposure and the valley floor traps the cold air, so grapes on the slopes are riper than the ones from the floor.

View of the vineyard from the winery

They make Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Sauvignon based blend, and they are a little different from other Napa Cab.
After harvesting, they send grapes to crushing without sorting. They believe sorting may take off grape's individual character and make wine more monotonous.
Harvesting occurs relatively early to retain fresh fruit character rather than making alcoholic wine from fully ripe grapes.
 
We got to taste these three wines: NV 12, Cain Five 2012 and Cain Five 2006.

NV stands for, of course, non vintage. NV 12 was made from grapes mostly of 2012, and some 2011.
This is a kind of Second label, but doesn't mean this is inferior. Grapes come from designated vineyards, not the ones rejected from Grand Vin.
This wine is lighter and would be a good food wine.

Cain Five is their signature wine: they have power, but it's controlled. They are ripe, rich yet fresh. Complex and long after taste. Great wines, especially 2006!

These wines from north of Napa showed me different side of Napa Valley.
It was a good trip.