Rare and Exquisite Beauty: 2014 Keenan Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc is medium-bodied red wine whose origins likely lie in the Basque country of France. The wine is loved for its savory, bell pepper-like flavors, medium-high acidity and mouthwatering taste. It is an ideal food pairing wine. You can find single-varietal Cabernet Franc wines, but the variety is also quite popular as blending grape in the famous Bordeaux Blend.

How Cabernet Franc is unusual, and how good it is that it is typically made into a single varietal wine.

The wine was produced exclusively from grapes that were grown on the Keenan Estate located in Napa Valley’s Spring Mountain District. Our two blocks of Cabernet Franc were harvested on the thirteenth of September and second of October in 2014. The fruit was hand-picked then, after de-stemming, the must was inoculated with Montrachet yeast and fermented in stainless steel tanks. The wine was aged in both French and American oak barrels for twenty months. We’ve come to describe this single vineyard Cabernet Franc from our highest elevation vineyard – approximately two-thousand inches – aptly named the “Upper Bowl” as “freakishly good”. Cabernet Franc is not supposed to be simply delicious. Enjoy it now and/or decades from now!

The terroir of Spring Mountain and specifically Keenan Winery and how that affects the Cabernet Franc.

Some of the most over-riding characteristics of the wine include ripe black cherry with both plum and hints of herbaceous earth. Our Cabernet Franc derived from Spring Mountain here at Keenan Winery, made with one-hundred percent estate-grown grapes is well-structured and made to last about ten to fifteen years! In 1999, after a hiatus spanning nearly a decade, we began producing a one-hundred percent Cabernet Franc wine again at Keenan Winery. Initially, we purchased some of our fruit for this highly unique wine from an outstanding grower on Mount Veeder. However, but 2002, we increased our own Cabernet Franc vineyard size and produced it with one-hundred percent estate-grown grapes.

An overview of the Cabernet Franc sold at the Winery.

Keenan has always done a knock-out job with their Cabernet Franc, and their 2014 Cabernet Franc from their estate vineyards on Spring Mountain – one-hundred percent of this variety – shows wonderful forest floor, white flowers, and both raspberry and blueberry notes that clearly suggest a cool climate-originating wine. Medium to full-bodied, with a beautiful deep ruby-like purple color, and terrific purity and texture, this is a beauty to drink now or cellar for another ten to fifteen years!