Hadn't tried this wine for yrs, so gave it a shot:
1. Caymus Conundrum 25'th Anniv Calif WW Blend Original Calif WW (13.5%; Charles F.Wagner/Proprietor; http://www.ConundrumWines.com) V&B by ConundrumWines/Rutherford 2014: Light gold color; lightly fragrant floral/Viog/pear bit bland/simple pleasant lightly oaked nose; some tart/lean/tangy/grapefruity/citric bit thin/light lightly Viog/floral/carnations flavor; med.short tart/tangy/grapefruity/citric/appley light floral/pear finish; not the richness or the oak of the early conundrums; a rather brittle/lean/eviscerated/simple white; more like a lightweight Soave or PinotGrigio than a Calif WhiteRhone; not worth the price when you can get a much more interesting Apremont at that price. $18.00 (SFW&S)
________________________
A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. The first Conundrum came out when CharlieWagner planted Rhone Whites down in Paso and created this wine. It was barrel frmtd and pretty rich & oaky. This planting, which included Roussanne, was the source of the Wagner's lawsuit against RandallGrahm, as detailed in PatrickComisky's great book, in detail.
The Caymus WebSite (http://www.ConundrumWines.com) is rather on the pretentious side. Supposedly, this blended white is true to old man Charlie's habit of blending his whites together over lunch. As if he had Viognier then to blend back in the '70's!!
It is a blend of Chard/Semillion/SauvBlanc/Viog/Muscat/etc
to recreate ole Charlie's blend. When you blend a whole range of colors together...what do you get?? Grey. When you blend a whole kitchen sink of wines together...what do you get?? Grey!! This wine is just vaguely grapey and pretty much devoid of interest. Best to avoid it.
This btl had an unusual screwcap that didn't look like the usual Stelvin. It was a more solid screwcap and the threads were soft plastic bonded inside the screwcap. It appears to be better than the Stelvin and doesn't have the lethal fangs where it separates on the score mark.
Tom