Caymus spotlight
The market on this bottle
Wine-Searcher tracks this 2020 Caymus Vineyards Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley across the open market. Their published U.S. low is $170.49 and the average is $191.63. Our slash is $299.00.
Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon • 1.5 Liter
2020 Caymus Vineyards Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, USA, 1.5L
The best-barrel Caymus Cabernet, in the magnum, two hundred ninety-nine dollars.
Special Selection is the barrel pick Caymus holds back from the Napa Valley Cabernet. This bottle is a 1.5 liter magnum, the same wine as two standard bottles. The label reads 15.9% alcohol. The price is $299.
The magnum of the barrel they keep
Each year Caymus sets aside the best barrels of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and calls that wine Special Selection. The 2020 is 100% Cabernet on the vintage sheet. This format is the 1.5 liter magnum. Four bottles are in the shop at $299.
Alder, plum, blackberry, mocha
James Molesworth reviewed the 2020 for Wine Spectator in September 2025. He tasted it twice. His line: a singed alder frame lends a toothy edge, while the core of plum and blackberry fruit is decidedly steeped in feel. The fruit gives way to mocha on the finish. Drink now through 2030. He records 10,651 cases.
The winery line, carried with the vintage, is different in temperature: extremely fine, velvety tannins, intense concentration, supple flavors, and dark fruit. Enjoyable on release, and built to age.
Jenny Wagner. One grape. Eighteen months.
The 2020 sheet names Jenny Wagner as winemaker. The varietal line is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, aged 18 months in new and used French oak. The soils named on that sheet are loam, clay, and silt. The bottle in the shop prints 1.5 liter and 15.9% alcohol, and it is bottled by Caymus Vineyards, Fairfield, California.
Charles F. Wagner, and the barrels kept back
The label carries the signature of Charles F. Wagner, Founder. Chuck Wagner and the family still make Caymus in Napa Valley. Special Selection is the only wine the house describes as honored twice as Wine Spectator Wine of the Year. The appellation printed under the script is Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. The front label does not print the vintage. This listing is the 2020.
A ribeye. Red-wine short ribs.
A Napa Cabernet with this much fruit and tannin wants a crust and a long braise. The winery note does not name a plate for the 2020. These two are the match.
Grilled ribeye
The picture is a ribeye. This recipe grills the steak over a two-zone fire.
Why it works: Plum, blackberry, and a toothy frame want rendered fat and a hard crust.
View Recipe for grilled ribeye steaks (opens in a new tab)
Red-wine short ribs
The picture is braised short ribs. This recipe is the long red-wine braise in a Dutch oven.
Why it works: Dark fruit and velvety tannins sit down in a sauce that cooked for hours.
View Recipe for red wine braised short ribs (opens in a new tab)Two hundred ninety-nine dollars. One magnum.
2020 Caymus Special Selection. Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. The 1.5 liter bottle is $299.
Four magnums are in the shop. One bottle pours about ten glasses.
