Dark ruby with thin garnet edges, staining and thick. Heady heat and dense dessert in the nose, full of wet earth, curvy spice cake with cream-cheese frosting, so decadently loaded with cassis and yet shrill of acidity.
My love of Loire-style Cabernet Francs is well-documented, but that is not to say I do not appreciate the style most–including me–have cut their teeth on: the Bordeaux-style, and this is a fine example, but cut from a New World cloth: rich and ripe, volumptuous and coated with a concentrated, reductionist style few could object to. It is refreshing to experience an oft-over-looked single variety showing this much class and verve. From the mastermind behind William Hill, this single-vineyard gem is so decadent and rich it will make you take new consideration of Cab-Franc.
In the mouth, velvety rich, pushing a tan seductiveness strong on dark herb and heavy sauce hard to argue with. Honey, wet wool, leather and black cherry compote settle in against a backbone of blood-orange minerality before hardcore tannins begin to surface–driving the whole package into a finish barely denser than the teeth-wiping entry. This is a high-octane Cab Franc, able to stand up to some of the densest Cabernet Sauvignons from Napa Valley. Quite a feat for a variety often relegated to mere blending-duty.
2012 PRIME SOLUM Cabernet Franc Brokenrock Vineyard Napa Valley 14.5
Stephen McConnell 