Gallica Cabernet Franc 2019

96VM
Oakville, Napa Valley

$144.99 3+ bottles (use code: 3saves5)
$149.99 Sale
$156.99 Reg USA Low

93-96 pts Vinous Media – Antonio Galloni
The 2018 Cabernet Franc is rich and deeply layered, with striking inner perfume and tons of sheer appeal. Moreover, the 2018 seems to represent a move towards greater finesse. The choices to work with fewer pumpovers and larger format oak brings out a level of nuance here that is beguiling. Of course, the personality of the year helps, too. There is so much to like.

Our tasting notes
Dark and opaque, this wine has deeper floral tones with both red and dark fruits. It has a broader mouthfeel than the Cabernet Sauvignon, and has notes of charcoal, tar, black fruits, raspberries and black cherries. Again, this show's balance, restraint and elegance with only 30% new French Oak used. This is a beauty that will continue to evolve and improve in the bottle.

The Cabernet Franc is from a south facing gently contoured slope in the eastern Oakville hills. Cabernet Franc grown on alluvial soil generally wants to produce a generous crop but not so in stingy hillside gravel and clay. Always low yielding, the wines are wondrously aromatic yet gently tannic with power. Experience has allowed us a more insightful approach to not only winemaking but matching cooperage type, size, and age to its delicacy. The vintage presented us with warm days with little fog in the hills above the valley floor. Our interpretation of Cabernet Franc straddles the divide between understated elegance, herbal undertones, and California’s signature all with the esprit of low intervention winemaking. Our goal is to pick clusters at ideal ripeness, each berry plump and flavorful.

The 2018 vintage provided the right canvas for creating the purest expression of alluring Cabernet Franc. Capturing the personality of Oakville with its signature grace and power this is a vintage to covet and collectors will be rewarded for decades. Nuanced with whiffs of dusty rose, green tea, and notes of sandalwood , the finish is equally luxurious. The vintage is noted for its refreshing acidity and balance. Decanting early in the life of this wine will reveal wild blueberry, tobacco leaf, accentuated by refined tannins. California Certified Organic Vineyard. The 2018 growing season is noted as an exceptional quality vintage due to moderate summer temperatures with plenty of time to fully ripen tannins. Winter rainfall was modest but welcomed spring rain arrived delaying budbreak and filling the soil profile. Overall, 2018 was an outstanding and abundant growing season without serious farming challenges and sensational for making wine at a leisurely pace.

*CCOF - California Certified Organic Farming.
Vineyard: Oakville Ranch Vineyard
Grapes: 98% Cabernet Franc | 2% Cabernet Sauvignon
ABV: 14.4%