2014 Mer Soleil Chardonnay Reserve Santa Lucia Highlands 750 ml

A Wagner Family Affair … and a 1967 Turquoise Chevy Pickup Truck

Anyone who knows the slightest bit about the history of American winegrowing knows the Wagner family and their Rutherford estate, Caymus. But it seems very few outside of Napa know the story of Chuck Wagner, his humble beginnings, the tragedy that struck when Chuck was still a teenager, and how a horrible event led Wagner and his family to the pinnacle of Napa Valley celebrity.​

As a boy, Chuck worked tirelessly at his father’s side when he wasn’t in school, helping transform the family’s 73-acre farm of prunes, walnuts, and table grapes into Caymus Vineyards. But now, with Chuck Wagner approaching his 45th harvest, close friends and some in the family can’t help but think back to a day when Chuck was 14 years old, and an employee with addiction issues shot Chuck’s father eight times with a 22-caliber rifle.

Incredibly, Charlie Wagner survived. But Chuck’s childhood was over.

Chuck took to the family vineyards with a passion, determined to continue the work he’d started with his dad. As the story goes, as his father was recuperating during the next growing season, the teenager noticed that their vines were stained with gray and white spots. A panicked Chuck reached out to neighboring farmer of German descent and asked for advice. The farmer showed young Wagner how to treat the powdery mildew with sulfur, saving the vines and the crop.

A month later, according to a wonderful piece on Barron’s, Chuck Wagner drove his dad around the vineyards. As the story goes, Charlie winced each time the truck hit a ditch, but he nonetheless urged his son to keep driving so he could admire the pristine crop at Caymus Vineyards.

This summer, Caymus Vineyards is hosting tens of thousands of visitors. If you are among them, you’ll see that — despite the estate’s international acclaim and its proximity to the showcase Rutherford Bench wineries of Cakebread, BV, and Inglenook/Rubicon — Caymus remains a humble family affair. Chuck still lives in a villa just 600 feet from the ranch house where he grew up. A few years back, we visited Caymus and saw Chuck bouncing around in a mid-60s turquoise Chevy pickup truck — one of Napa Valley’s most extraordinarily successful growers seemed right at home.

In 1992, Chuck Wagner wanted to expand his vineyard opportunities and to provide a childhood challenge to each of his children. Looking for a site to grow world-class Chardonnay, Chuck settled on a large swath of land in Santa Lucia Highlands, just east of Talbott’s Sleepy Hollow. Not surprisingly, given his own childhood, Chuck put his son, Charlie, in charge shortly thereafter.

Charlie II planted Mer Soleil on rugged soils mixed with gravel and loam, just a stone’s throw from the roaring Pacific Ocean. Stiff maritime winds take the bite out of Monterey’s summer sun, cleansing the vines while stretching out the growing season. That added hangtime paid enormous dividends in the superb 2014 vintage, making for the most intensely concentrated, tropical fruit-infused Mer Soleil Chardonnays in over 20 years.

The 2014 Mer Soleil Chardonnay Santa Lucia Highlands Reserve is brilliant golden in hue, featuring plush aromas of ripe peach and apple, citrus blossom, and pungent baking spices. Rich, dense, and weighty, with a mix of baked apple, nectarine, and pear, finishing with bracing Santa Lucia Highlands tension and acidity. Drink now-2024.

$39 on release. $27.99 today — the sharpest delivered price in America — here on WineAccess.