2013 Crocker & Starr Cabernet Franc St. Helena, Napa Valley

“Polished and opulent...”

2013 Crocker & Starr Cabernet Franc St. Helena, Napa Valley

An opulent style, plumped by blue and red fruits and tinged with spice. Its chewy purple body has a raspberry-tinted rim and a fragrance like a decoction of blueberries stewed with mocha and cinnamon. Muscular, concentrated, and generous on the palate, its fulsome ripeness and red spices dazzle, especially at the finish.

This varietal Cabernet Franc spent 18 months in 80 percent new French oak, and such treatment can be borne only by substantial fruit. The result is succulent and stylistically polished, a warm-climate, New World wine that bears little resemblance to its varietal forebears from the Loire. People unfamiliar with Napa Cabernet Franc but who like Napa Cabernet Sauvignon will probably love it.

14.8% abv | $80 (sample) | 525 cases made

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