2014 Cabernet Franc

$50.00 / 750ml

390 Cases Produced

Dark berries, plum, and black currant. Bright and fresh with crisp fruit, dried herbal notes, green tobacco, and crushed rocks. Showing incredibly elegant structure that retains vibrant acidity and freshness, this wine has a long life ahead of it.

After hand harvesting, this wine was carefully sorted by hand to obtain pristine fruit, which was fully destemmed before fermentation. After pressing, it spent 29 months in oak and another 24 months in bottle before we felt this wine was starting to show its stuff.

Christopher’s Notes: An extremely cold 2013/2014 winter caused severe bud damage, naturally reducing yields, especially in sensitive varieties. This is a good thing for wine quality, but not quantity. A relatively average spring and summer continued until the July rains started. While the temperature was average through the year, the rain put on disease pressure and required a lot of labor in the vineyards. Thankfully a near perfect fall followed allowing those who put in the work earlier to pick beautiful solid pure, concentrated fruit. I consider this to be the first "GREAT" vintage I have seen.

Cabernet Franc

A grape most traditionally associated with the Loire Valley (Chinon, etc.), it has seen only a moderate amount of attention outside of France. While there are some notable examples of great Cabernet Franc being made round the globe, they are limited. It seems as though the Finger Lakes may be a stronghold for Cab Franc in the new world.

A bit lighter than it’s much more popular offspring Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc excels without the ripeness that Cabernet Sauvignon so often seems to need. Add its thick skins with loose clusters that allow airflow and we have a grape that seems made to excel in our cooler, moist climate. To seal the deal, it is very cold tolerant.

We believe Cabernet Franc will be the iconic red grape of the Finger Lakes before long.