I’m new to drinking wine and in the beginning liked really sweet wines. Caymus was OK but on the expensive side and over time it was a little too sweet for me almost like candy. In my search for a cheaper and better alternative, I can across Austin Hope. Wow! The fruity sweetness has a tinge of sourness or citrus. This accentuates the fruitiness of this wine. It is sweet, but the refreshing sweetness like biting into a citrus orange. So good I can drink it all day long. So glad I found this wine. It is about $50 on sale. Still a bit much for a daily. I also tried their cheaper $20 version, the Austin, but it was a little too tannic. Instead, I would recommend their second label Treana which is about $20-30 depending on the vintage. It is almost as good as the Austin Hope. Has a little more of the buttery taste and still offer the sweet and sour taste like a citrus fruit. Definitely worth the money.
by em22x222
4 Comments
Also a Caymus fan here. I tried Austin Hope for the first time several weeks ago. Nice, but I didn’t quite think it was worth $50. I had it at a restaursnt so maybe if I try it at home and decant it, it could be better. I do like the Treana a bunch at the price point.
I was surprised there hasn’t been any commentary on the Caymus piece yet, and realized this post is 57 minutes old. ill be back.
Why do you keep trying cabs if you find them, even the milder ones like Treana, to be too tannic?
Highly recommend trying some Pinot Noir, Gamay, Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto… Plenty of delicious red wines to be had outside the U.S!
FWIW, Caymus has 10g/l, Austin Hope has 9g/l, and Treana has 7g/l of sugar.
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And herein lies the interesting thing about flavor – It is never absolute sweetness that gets you, it’s the balance and secondary flavors. I remember once listening to a friend complain about how sweet The Prisoner is (6g/l) over breakfast with a glass of orange juice (80+ g/l). Just think about how much sugar you add to lemonade to counteract the sourness, you’ll quickly realize that if you added that much sugar to water it would be ridiculously sweet.
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Caymus has less acidity and less tannins than the competition. Which is actually completely a stylistic choice really, since [almost all warm weather winemakers in regions like Napa add acid to their wines](https://worldoffinewine.com/uncategorized/acid-test-acidity-and-acidification-in-napa-valley-4849842). Hell, considering that Austin Hope is 15% ABV and 9g/l, while Caymus is 14.4% at 10g/l, I’m willing to bet that Austin Hope used riper, sweeter, more developed grapes with less natural acid and just added more acid.
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If I may recommend some wines for you to look at, consider colder region Cabernets. Oregon, Canada, etc. The colder weather results in less ripe grapes with more natural acid, so even if the winemaker adds little to no acid, you will still have a sharper, more acidic wine.
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Or how about switching to a grape varietal that is more acidic to begin with? Pinot Noir is significantly more acidic than Cabernet, and it might be up your alley if you want citrus like acidity in a red wine. Nebbiolo or Sangiovese (Barolo and Chianti are the two most well-known styles made with these grapes respectively) are also more acidic, but those have more tannins.
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Finally, if you want to splurge, older wines generally have less fruitiness, so they feel more acidic.