Growing Conditions
This wine is 100% Cabernet Franc sourced from two vineyards from different areas of the Napa Valley, each bringing its own personality to the blend. Stanton Vineyard sits next to the Dr. Crane Vineyard in St. Helena on a very rocky alluvial fan. Cabernet Franc ripens early and is full of lush, ripe dark fruit characteristics. This vineyard is the perfect complement to the much cooler Sugarloaf Vineyard, situated southeast of Napa. Sugarloaf brings floral notes, tannins and elegance to this very classic Cabernet Franc. This wine will evolve beautifully for 10 to 15 years.
Bottling
The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Winemaking
We handpick in the early morning hours to preserve the freshness and skin integrity of the fruit. The grapes are carefully hand-sorted in the field and then at the winery before being gravity fed into small fermenters. Sourced from two vineyard sites, each pick is fermented separately. Native fermentation started after a 7-day cold soak and reached a peak temperature of 90°F. The wines were pumped over each
day until dry, then pressed and drained to barrels where they underwent malolactic fermentation.
Aging
We aged the wine for 22 months in 70% new French oak barrels, racked only three times.
