Limited to 550 bottles
Exclusively comprised of Cabernet Franc grown on its own roots, this bottling is a celebration of a singular place and the adventurous winemaking traditions that inspire us.
Planted in 2015 by our wine-growing partners at Happy Canyon Vineyard, Block 1a is host to an ungrafted, massal selection of Cabernet Franc.
This is exciting to us twice over: we love the genetic variety introduced by the time-honored technique of massal selection, and own-rooted Vitis vinifera is very rare throughout the world of wine today.
The pernicious aphid phylloxera - which has ravaged the roots of Vitis vinifera for over 150 years - does not readily thrive in sandy soils. This provides us the unique opportunity to engage with ungrafted vines—and here we have opted to vinify and bottle their fruit separately.
In recent generations, an intrepid few wineries of the Loire Valley have similarly experimented with planting ungrafted Cabernet Franc, with varying success. Fewer still are the faithful stewards of vineyards planted before the advent of grafting over 100 years ago.
“A dark, mysterious wine, the 2020 is laced with inky red/purplish berry fruit, lavender, sage, menthol, licorice and spice. Marvelously complex and layered, not to mention totally compelling. A whole burst of mineral notes frame the finish. This is a seriously beautiful, great Cabernet Franc.” — Antonio Galloni, Vinous, 96 Points
Limited to 550 bottles
Exclusively comprised of Cabernet Franc grown on its own roots, this bottling is a celebration of a singular place and the adventurous winemaking traditions that inspire us.
Planted in 2015 by our wine-growing partners at Happy Canyon Vineyard, Block 1a is host to an ungrafted, massal selection of Cabernet Franc.
This is exciting to us twice over: we love the genetic variety introduced by the time-honored technique of massal selection, and own-rooted Vitis vinifera is very rare throughout the world of wine today.
The pernicious aphid phylloxera - which has ravaged the roots of Vitis vinifera for over 150 years - does not readily thrive in sandy soils. This provides us the unique opportunity to engage with ungrafted vines—and here we have opted to vinify and bottle their fruit separately.
In recent generations, an intrepid few wineries of the Loire Valley have similarly experimented with planting ungrafted Cabernet Franc, with varying success. Fewer still are the faithful stewards of vineyards planted before the advent of grafting over 100 years ago.
“A dark, mysterious wine, the 2020 is laced with inky red/purplish berry fruit, lavender, sage, menthol, licorice and spice. Marvelously complex and layered, not to mention totally compelling. A whole burst of mineral notes frame the finish. This is a seriously beautiful, great Cabernet Franc.” — Antonio Galloni, Vinous, 96 Points