2017 Cab Franc Reserve 13.6% 750ml

Description

2017 Cabernet Franc Cabak Vineyard Sonoma Valley 100% Cabernet Franc

The Appellation: Sonoma Valley is one of the greatest wine grape growing places in the world. The wines from grapes grown here rival any on the planet. Sonoma is geologically young volcanic in origin so trace mineral are abundant. The climate is perfectly Mediterranean for these Mediterranean origin grapes. The climate is better than the most renown appellations in France. The Vintage: 2017 was started as an exceptional vintage interrupted by terrible wild fires that started the second week of October, in the middle of the harvest. The conflagration lasted for three weeks burned thousands of homes, several wineries and acres of vineyards in both Sonoma and Napa. Winery crews were blockaded form their jobs and tens of thousands of gallons of wine were lost to the inability to manage fermentation and loss of power. Some wines were picked before the fires. This was one of them, picked September 28th. Robert and PJ did not evacuate Deerfield despite being surrounded by fires. Robert managed to pirate his crew to the winery and almost all of the Deerfield wines were saved. No Deerfield 2017 wine exhibits any smoke taint or degradation of quality and show the exceptional quality of wines made from a great vintage interrupted.
The Vineyard: The Cabac vineyard is a very small 1.5 acre plot in a narrow mountain valley named Kennybrook, behind the Kenwood winery on the north east side of the Sonoma Valley. It is on the valley floor and has sun exposure all day. The Cab Franc loves it. All the work is done by hand as it is too tight for the tractor. The grapes are picked by hand and carried out in lug boxes. Cabernet Franc is the progenitor of Cabernet Sauvignon. It has the tannin structure, the color, the depth and long finish of Cabernet Sauvignon. What makes it different is the chocolate profile and nuance of its taste. The taste profile of Cabernet Sauvignon is linear, front to back. Cab Franc is ethereal. It goes right to the top of our palate, to your nasal cavity where as much as 70% of you taste experience is developed. That is also where you taste dark chocolate and not surprisingly Cabernet Franc has a dark chocolate flavor. The Wine: I usually blend other varietals with Cabernet Franc. This one is an exception and is 100% Cabernet Franc. I did the usual blending trials. We hadn’t bottled a Cabernet Franc since the 2013 vintage, which is a blend, so it followed that I would do the same here. At each trial the Cabernet was best when straight. It didn’t need additional complexity or finish or fruit. Everything is there; left it alone.Wine ages better in barrels than it does in bottles. You loose wine to evaporation but often it is worth it. We aged this wine in our cave for four years using 25% new oak, both French and American At bottling: Alc. 13.6%. pH 3.55, T.A. 6.0 g/L R.S. 0.2 g/L, Unfined. Vegan, Velcorin free. Cross flow clarified before bottling, sterile bottled, SO2 at release: <12 ppm. Histamines < 5 ppm. Bottled 165 cases, June 2021.

The Appellation: Sonoma Valley is one of the greatest wine grape growing places in the world. The wines from grapes grown here rival any on the planet. Sonoma is geologically young volcanic in origin so trace mineral are abundant. The climate is perfectly Mediterranean for these Mediterranean origin grapes. The climate is better than the most renown appellations in France.

The Vintage: 2017 was started as an exceptional vintage interrupted by terrible wild fires that started the second week of October, in the middle of the harvest. The conflagration lasted for three weeks burned thousands of homes, several wineries and acres of vineyards in both Sonoma and Napa. Winery crews were blockaded form their jobs and tens of thousands of gallons of wine were lost to the inability to manage fermentation and loss of power. Some wines were picked before the fires. This was one of them, picked September 28th. Robert and PJ did not evacuate Deerfield despite being surrounded by fires. Robert managed to pirate his crew to the winery and almost all of the Deerfield wines were saved. No Deerfield 2017 wine exhibits any smoke taint or degradation of quality and show the exceptional quality of wines made from a great vintage interrupted.

The Vineyard: The Cabac vineyard is a very small 1.5 acre plot in a narrow mountain valley named Kennybrook, behind the Kenwood winery on the north east side of the Sonoma Valley. It is on the valley floor and has sun exposure all day. The Cab Franc loves it. All the work is done by hand as it is too tight for the tractor. The grapes are picked by hand and carried out in lug boxes. Cabernet Franc is the progenitor of Cabernet Sauvignon. It has the tannin structure, the color, the depth and long finish of Cabernet Sauvignon. What makes it different is the chocolate profile and nuance of its taste. The taste profile of Cabernet Sauvignon is linear, front to back. Cab Franc is ethereal. It goes right to the top of our palate, to your nasal cavity where as much as 70% of you taste experience is developed. That is also where you taste dark chocolate and not surprisingly Cabernet Franc has a dark chocolate flavor.

The Wine: I usually blend other varietals with Cabernet Franc. This one is an exception and is 100% Cabernet Franc. I did the usual blending trials. We hadn’t bottled a Cabernet Franc since the 2013 vintage, which is a blend, so it followed that I would do the same here. At each trial the Cabernet was best when straight. It didn’t need additional complexity or finish or fruit. Everything is there; left it alone.Wine ages better in barrels than it does in bottles. You loose wine to evaporation but often it is worth it. We aged this wine in our cave for four years using 25% new oak, both French and American At bottling: Alc. 13.6%. pH 3.55, T.A. 6.0 g/L R.S. 0.2 g/L, Unfined. Vegan, Velcorin free. Cross flow clarified before bottling, sterile bottled, SO2 at release: <12 ppm. Histamines < 5 ppm. Bottled 165 cases, June 2021.

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