Notes from the Archivist

"The Shepherd"

Entry No. 007 is here! A 94-point Cab Franc from Carneros

I love a good Cab Franc. And we don’t seem to find them very often around Napa. Usually you need to look to Chinon or Argentina. For me one of the local benchmarks is Keenan on Spring Mountain. Always reliably great, and reasonably priced.

But this?! Well, I might have found my new benchmark. For this wine we returned to the source for our very first release. A small, highly respected estate on Howell Mountain.

Their own Cab Franc bottling goes for $95. Not a bad price. It also forms the base of their proprietary blend which approaches $200 at release.

For under $50 (and closer to $40 if you’re bundling any six bottles) it overdelivers big time.

They had ten barrels which had just been blended together when Bobby happened upon them during a trip up to Angwin. He tasted it, and locked down samples for us. After revisiting, we agreed it was a winner and with a little something extra it could hit new heights.

Bobby set to work doing some blending trials. We had Entries 001, 002 and 004 in house at the time. The Cabs were too powerful, with the oak and rich fruit stealing the spotlight and masking the elegance and suave, sexiness the Franc had on display.

The answer turned out to be our beloved Merlot. The addition of 19% brought this to new heights. It lended some extra heft and played nicely together, retaining all the crunchy red fruit preserving the delicate spices and focus the Franc inherently had.

One of the advantages we have is not just our accessibility to great fruit, but the winemaking prowess that Bobby brings to the table, and I think that’s on full display here. Rich and delicious, with smooth and refined tannins, bristling acidity, and perfectly balanced, deep red fruit joining some kind of nuntella/graham cracker crust type thing going on. The dusting of baking spice, sweet bay laurel, and savory sage caps off the complexity and the 40% new French oak lends the perfect amount of toasty oak to wrap it all up.

I should also note, while the critic’s 94-point score was surely deserved, we dropped these off just weeks after bottling. After opening this a week ago I could already tell it had progressed and settled into its own from that time, and I know this will only continue to improve with age. It’s drinking beautifully now, but will go the distance.

With just 60 cases to spare, it will be a treasure to stash away and I can’t wait to see how it develops.

94 points – Decanter

“A blend of 89% Cabernet Franc and 11% Merlot, this is a wine of both power and freshness. The nose opens with gorgeously savoury, high-toned notes of sagebrush and bay laurel, balanced by a subtle sweetness of graham-cracker spice. The medium-bodied palate is framed by richly textured, meaty tannins, while juicy red- and black-toned fruits bring lift, tension, and vibrancy, leaving the wine suspended between depth and elegance.”