2023 Cabernet Franc / 96 Points / Tasting Panel

Opulent vanilla and milk-chocolate aromas lead to a firm, moderately tannic palate and concentrated blueberry and dark chocolate flavors in this full-bodied wine. Delicious now, it should be even more complex after 2024.

This wine is a beautiful expression of high-elevation Cabernet Franc grown in California. The Red Hills sub-Ava in Lake County has iron-rich soil, translating into complex, fully flavored wines with red berries, dark plum, sweet cigar, and star anise on the nose. The flavors on the palate are high-energy, bright, raspberry, Mulberry, Sage, orange, and vanilla cream, with supple acidity creating a mouth-watering finish.

Deep purple color. The nose sports mulled cherries and deep currant fruit, with a spicy mix of anise, black pepper, tar, leather and espresso. Full but fresh, this shows solid grip but smooth edges to the tannins and moderate acidity. The fig paste and cranberry relish fruit is delicious, and it’s backed up with tar, anise, cocoa, sweet bell pepper, chewing tobacco and some black olive. Really fun and lively but also pretty, complex and age-worthy. All Cab Franc aged in 100% French oak.

Absolutely lush and mouthcoating, this super-concentrated and deeply colored wine made with organic grapes overflows with blueberries, black currants and dark chocolate. Its abundant tannins are velvety, warmly wrapping up the rich fruit and spice flavors. 

The wine showed a dark garnet color. Black cherry, raspberry, vanilla, licorice, blackberry and oak could each be found on the nose. Black cherry, raspberry and vanilla were easily discernible on the palate followed by nuanced notes of currant, eucalyptus, licorice and oak. The wine was full-bodied and exhibited great length along with soft tannins. This wine would pair very well with a hearty lamb stew.

The winery’s first release of this variety shows remarkable success in bringing out the best of its nature. Crushed stone and dried violets merge with a blackberry chocolate wash. Farmed with Biodynamic certification “closed system” on their 180-acre mountain estate. Slick and opulent.