Cabernet Franc is particularly representative of the site where it is grown; at its best, it is delicate, intriguing, and challenging to understand. Beguiling. We are in the sunny Napa Valley, and we know that the wine will have beautiful fruit flavors, so we focus entirely on the mineral and herbal aspects of its character and end up with a wine that somehow manages to be both delicate yet powerful, aromatic, long, and with an ethereal lightness. It’s a uniquely different expression of Cabernet Franc than one usually finds in the new or the old world, informed by the wines of Chinon, but something remarkable in and of itself — a bold representation of the terroir of our Napa vineyard, showing a restrained side of Napa that one rarely sees.
The Cabernet Franc has distinct aromas of dry leaves in the fall, poblano chili peppers, and sage, with plummy fruit. The tannins are silky in the mouth, with an iron-like minerality on the finish. It’s light on the palate but at the same time firm —it’s a wine with many contradictions that is hard to describe with tasting notes. Easy drinking, but incredibly complex. Great with food.
