A continuing Napa Valley legacy
By Robyn James
When it comes to iconic families in the wine industry, the list is short. There are the Jacksons, the Mondavis — and then there is the Wagner family.
It would be difficult to find a rival for this family’s roots in Napa Valley. Multiple generations of Wagners have spent their entire lives there.
Chuck Wagner’s history in the Valley traces back to the 1850s, when his great-great-grandfather on his mother’s side captained a wagon train to California from Bible Grove, Missouri, and purchased 70 acres of farmland in the Oak Knoll district. In 1906, Chuck’s paternal grandfather, Carl Wagner, who came from a French Alsatian wine family, bought land in Napa to start his own winery. Producing bulk wines, the family did well until Prohibition kicked in, and they had to turn to fruit and walnut farming.
One year after Prohibition ended, Carl’s son Charlie married a local Napa girl, Lorna Belle Glos, and they later bought acreage in Rutherford to plant fruit orchards and wine grapes.
Charlie couldn’t resist the notion that the American market wanted top quality wines, and he ripped up his fruit orchards and planted cabernet sauvignon from clones he purchased from Stag’s Leap winery. He grew quality grapes and sold them to local high-end wineries. Charlie’s only son, Chuck, caught the passion, and father and son would gather at the dinner table mixing different wines in glasses to find the perfect blend to accompany their food.
However, Charlie wasn’t achieving the financial success he had envisioned. When Chuck was only 19 his dad presented an ultimatum. He wanted Chuck to join him full time in pushing the success of the winery, or he and his wife would sell everything and move to Australia. Chuck didn’t hesitate and committed himself to joining his dad in the quest for great Napa cabernet on their winery named Caymus, after a Mexican land grant.
Charlie and Chuck noticed one year that they had a few exceptional barrels and decided to create a reserve wine, Caymus Special Selection. The business was going well when the big break came in 1989. The Wine Spectator named the 1984 Caymus Special Selection as the No. 1 Wine of The Year. Five years later they won again with the 1990 Caymus Special Selection becoming the only wine in the world to win that accolade twice.
It is probably safe to say that Caymus is the most well-known winery in California and perhaps in the world. Their reputation for cabernet is impeccable and untouched.
Chuck enjoyed blending so much that he introduced a white wine called Conundrum, a mix of chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and muscat, to their portfolio, and although his dad thought the wine was too sweet, it became so popular they introduced Conundrum Red in 2011 and two more wines in 2016, Conundrum Sparkling and Conundrum Rosé.
Chuck Wagner’s dream was that his own four children would continue his legacy in the family business. All of them had worked in the winery and vineyards after school and in the summers all of their lives. He created a variety of new brands to allow each of them to create their own opportunity. The oldest son, Charlie Wagner, is responsible for production of Mer Soleil, Wagner’s chardonnay project. He is also the director of winemaking for Conundrum Red and runs the family’s newest venture, Red Schooner, whose fruit is grown in Argentina, shipped to Napa and finished in the Caymus style.
Chuck’s older daughter, Jenny Wagner, joined the family business as winemaker for their Emmolo project, launched by and named after her mother, Cheryl Emmolo, who dreamed of keeping the family name alive by making a wine label using her father’s vineyards. Their focus is on sauvignon blanc and merlot.
The second oldest son, Joe, took over Wagner’s pinot noir project, Belle Glos, named after his grandmother, Lorna Belle Glos Wagner. He came up with the idea of a lower priced pinot noir called Meiomi, hitting the mother lode with this idea of a higher alcohol, big, full-bodied, fruity wine that proved to be a direct hit with American consumers. He did what Chuck never would have done and sold the Meiomi label to Constellation Brands for $315 million.
Joe left the Wagner umbrella to create his own wine company, Copper Cane, housing seven different brands he hopes to pass on to his own six children, guaranteeing the Wagner name will remain synonymous with top quality and innovation in Napa Valley for generations to come. PS
Robyn James is a certified sommelier and proprietor of The Wine Cellar and Tasting Room in Southern Pines. Contact her at robynajames@gmail.com.
