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THE MEANING OF THE NAME

“BÖEN is a translation of ‘The Farm’ and I chose it as a reminder to myself that the wine I make is indivisible from the land it comes from and that first and foremost, I am a farmer.”

– Joseph Wagner, Winemaker

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ABOUT JOE WAGNER

As a fifth generation Napa Valley winemaker, Joseph learned his way around a vineyard long before he was able to drink wine. By the time he was 19 he knew that he would continue his family’s winemaker legacy, working alongside his father at Caymus Vineyards. In 2001, he created Belle Glos, with a focus on vineyard-designated Pinot Noirs from California’s best coastal regions.

More recently, he has launched a number of new brands under Copper Cane Wines & Provisions. Joseph has a keen interest in contributing to the evolution of the wine industry, by discovering new winegrowing locations and experimenting in the cellar. He is thrilled to release BÖEN – an expression of  Pinot Noir and Chardonnay made in his signature style of rich, ripe fruit flavors balanced with bright acidity and judicious hints of toasty oak.

Roots in Agriculture

  • The Gold Rush

    1 OF 3

    In 1849 when gold was discovered in California, people came from all over the world to stake their claim. Overnight, it seemed, the tiny port of San Francisco grew into a sprawling city. Many of the new pioneers sought their fortunes not in the gold fields of the Sierra foothills but in farming the fertile valleys north of San Francisco.  Food and wine from Napa and Sonoma soon supplied San Francisco’s burgeoning and increasingly affluent population.
  • A New Direction

    2 OF 3

    During the 1960s, Joseph’s grandfather Charlie Wagner and his wife Lorna saw a bleak future for the family’s prune and walnut crops that provided the mainstay of their income. They decided to pull out their trees and devote their lives to growing wine grapes, including a rare clone of Cabernet Sauvignon that Charlie had acquired from Stags Leap grower, Nathan Fay. For the first few years, they sold their grapes to local wineries. Then in 1972, they established their own winery and called it Caymus after a Mexican land grant that had once included their property. Success came quickly and the brand became recognized as a leading producer of benchmark Cabernet. Joseph grew up at Caymus, where his parents and grandparents passed down generations of winemaking and farming traditions that guide him today as he makes BÖEN.
  • Moving to Napa

    3 OF 3

    BÖEN founder Joseph Wagner is descended from three of those early farming families. His first ancestors to arrive in the Golden State were the Stices who, in 1857, left the Midwest and traveled via grueling wagon train to Napa Valley where they bought 78 acres of farmland. In 1885, the Glos family – his German ancestors – began homesteading 150 acres on Napa Valley’s Howell Mountain. Twenty-one years later, Carl Wagner left the Alsace region of France and bought farmland in Napa Valley. While it’s true that Joseph’s ancestors grew wine grapes, they also turned their hand to pears, prunes, apples, walnuts, alfalfa, grain, vegetables — anything that would keep food on the table. Yet through Prohibition, the Great Depression, weather catastrophes and other setbacks, they managed to hold onto the farmland they loved.
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In 1849 when gold was discovered in California, people came from all over the world to stake their claim. Overnight, it seemed, the tiny port of San Francisco grew into a sprawling city. Many of the new pioneers sought their fortunes not in the gold fields of the Sierra foothills but in farming the fertile valleys north of San Francisco.  Food and wine from Napa and Sonoma soon supplied San Francisco’s burgeoning and increasingly affluent population.
During the 1960s, Joseph’s grandfather Charlie Wagner and his wife Lorna saw a bleak future for the family’s prune and walnut crops that provided the mainstay of their income. They decided to pull out their trees and devote their lives to growing wine grapes, including a rare clone of Cabernet Sauvignon that Charlie had acquired from Stags Leap grower, Nathan Fay. For the first few years, they sold their grapes to local wineries. Then in 1972, they established their own winery and called it Caymus after a Mexican land grant that had once included their property. Success came quickly and the brand became recognized as a leading producer of benchmark Cabernet. Joseph grew up at Caymus, where his parents and grandparents passed down generations of winemaking and farming traditions that guide him today as he makes BÖEN.
BÖEN founder Joseph Wagner is descended from three of those early farming families. His first ancestors to arrive in the Golden State were the Stices who, in 1857, left the Midwest and traveled via grueling wagon train to Napa Valley where they bought 78 acres of farmland. In 1885, the Glos family – his German ancestors – began homesteading 150 acres on Napa Valley’s Howell Mountain. Twenty-one years later, Carl Wagner left the Alsace region of France and bought farmland in Napa Valley. While it’s true that Joseph’s ancestors grew wine grapes, they also turned their hand to pears, prunes, apples, walnuts, alfalfa, grain, vegetables — anything that would keep food on the table. Yet through Prohibition, the Great Depression, weather catastrophes and other setbacks, they managed to hold onto the farmland they loved.

The Gold Rush

A New Direction

Moving to Napa

VITICULTURE

Joseph has always focused on making wines that best represent the region in which the grapes are grown. In California, the abundance of sunshine and warm days over a long growing season contribute to wines that are rich, bold and robust – a style that he and his family have always loved.

To produce wines that are round, opulent and supple, Joseph studies the physiology of the vine throughout the growing season. When the green canes begin to lignify, or turn to wood, they take on a copper hue. This color shift signals that the green character and harsh tannins have been purged from the vine, and thus the resulting wines – the grapes are ready to be harvested. While other wine-growing regions of the world may struggle to get a fully ripened crop each vintage, it’s the norm in California to be able to achieve optimal ripeness. Joe strives for this each and every vintage.