1998 Conundrum California White Wine

Conundrum is one of the labels produced by Wagner Family of Wine, an umbrella company for a portfolio of family-produced wines, the most famous of which is Caymus. Conundrum introduced its first wine, a white blend called Conundrum White, in 1989. Conundrum now also makes a red blend, a rosé and a sparkling wine. Chuck Wagner, current patriarch of the Wagner family, descends from Alsatian immigrants who settled in Rutherford in 1906 and produced bulk wines until Prohibition. Several generations later in 1972 the family established Caymus Vineyards, widely recognized as one of Napa’s finest producers. Today Chuck Wagner’s adult children are also involved in the family’s wine enterprise, which includes the labels Red Schooner, Mer Soleil and Emmolo.

Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay,

Caymus Conundrum