C. Wagner, 89; Longtime Napa Wine Producer

Charles F. “Charlie” Wagner, the force behind the legendary Caymus Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignons and one of the Napa Valley’s crustiest characters, died in his sleep Wednesday at his home in Rutherford. He was 89.

Wagner was a bridge between the old and new Napas. He was born in Rutherford--only a couple hundred yards from where he died--to a fruit-growing family. In 1942 he bought a 60-acre farm on part of the old Rancho Caymus land grant and established a vineyard on part of it, selling the grapes to wineries such as Inglenook.

In the fashion of Napa in those days, he also grew prunes and potatoes. As the valley became more wine oriented, so did he. In 1972, at age 60, he grew tired of getting low prices for grapes that wound up in other people’s expensive wines. So he began making his own, with the help of his wife, Lorna, son Charles J. “Chuck” Wagner and their first winemaker, Randy Dunn.

This put Caymus in the first wave of high-quality wine production as the Napa Valley began shifting from bulk to boutique. In 1975, he released the first of Caymus’ “Special Selection” Cabernet Sauvignons, an intensely flavored wine made from carefully selected grapes. It was an almost instant success and helped ignite the craze for so-called cult Cabernets that continues today.

“What Charlie did for the business was push for quality and set a standard,” said David Breitstein, owner of the Duke of Bourbon wine store in Canoga Park, since 1967 one of Southern California’s prime retailers of California wines.

“And he did it without flaunting. He was never one of the guys you saw at the [Napa Valley] wine auction. He wasn’t flamboyant. He was just a good sound businessman, and he knew how to grow great grapes.”

Wagner never did consider himself a winemaker. He was a farmer, he insisted. And the high quality of his wines came not from any winery magic but from the many hours he spent on the seat of his tractor.

“There’s more work than glory in being a farmer, but I get a lot of satisfaction out of it,” he told an interviewer several years ago.

The first Special Select Cabernet, along with a handful of other wines, including Heitz Vineyards’ “Martha’s Vineyard,” Beaulieu Vineyards’ “George de la Tour” and the Robert Mondavi “Reserve,” helped prove that great--not just good--wines could be made in the Napa Valley.

“Rarely if ever has a Cabernet struck me with as much impact,” then-Los Angeles Times wine writer Dan Berger wrote of the 1985 Special Selection, calling it “one of the most intense wines ever made in California.”

The Special Selection, current vintages of which now sell for more than $100 a bottle, was twice named the best wine in the world by Wine Spectator magazine. Characteristically, a cover story on Wagner in that magazine bore the headline “The Best Damned Cabernet in California.”

“What he did, along with guys like Joe Heitz, Andre Tchelistcheff and Louis Martini, was establish the idea of the Napa Valley,” Breitstein said. “They really started our business.”

All the attention never did make much of an impression on Wagner. Until the last few years, he could be found from time to time in the winery’s ramshackle tasting room, dressed in overalls, pouring samples.

“We don’t like to brag about it, but we think we do a good job here,” he would say. “And if people like the wine, well, that’s great.”

In addition to his wife and son, Wagner is survived by his daughters, Marlene Wagner Fisher of Napa and Connie Wagner Beitler of Medford, Ore., and nine grandchildren.