Wine Last Sold on: November 14, 2012
Starry Night Winery
Featured Wine:
2010 Cabernet Franc
| Varietal: | Cabernet Franc |
| Vineyard: | Terre Vermielle |
| Region: | California: Lake County |
| Avg. Price: | $22.00 |
| Wine Spies: | $17.49 |
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SUPERIOR WINE ALERT:
We only showcase wines that we love. While our emphasis is on quality first, every now and again we come across a real standout wine that rises above. When we do, we issue alerts like this one.
SUPER QPR ALERT:
At today’s special Wine Spies price, this wine delivers tremendous value - and a drinking experience that exceeds expectations, easily earning it this special QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) Alert.
THANKSGIVING SHIPPING ALERT:
We can no longer guarantee delivery, by Thanksgiving, for our East Coast customers. If your live in California, Oregon, Washington or Nevada, you still have time to order in time for Thanksgiving delivery. For other locations, Operative beware.
Mission Codename: We All Shine On
- Operative
- Agent Red
- Objective
- After a long absence from our pages, secure an extraordinary Cabernet Franc for our Franc-loving Operatives. Send Agent Red, our Cab Franc expert (lunatic?), in search of the perfect, holiday food friendly example of the varietal.
- Mission Status
- Accomplished!
- Winemaker
- Todd Graff
Final Assessment
We absolutely adore wines from Starry Night Winery and when we learned that they made a stunning, single varietal Cabernet Franc, we dispatched Agent Red to sample the wine, immediately. After his careful yet quick assessment, Agent Red managed to get his hands on every last available case. This limited production 2010 Starry Night winery Cabernet Franc was deemed by Agent Red to be a superior example of the varietal and it earned his highest recommendation. This is high praise from Agent Red, as Cabernet Franc is his favorite red varietal.
This magnificent wine is drinking beautifully now and it will only continue to improve over the next few years so we encourage you to lay a few bottles down. Cabernet Franc is among the most food friendly wines available, and this wine is exceptionally so. With lush, dark fruit and a balanced acidity this wine possesses all of the best characteristics of the varietal, without any of the “green” notes that can sometimes appear. Pair this food-friendly wine with nearly anything, but we would recommend something rich, robust and complex, like a juicy Prime Rib with plenty of horseradish. Will be keeping plenty on hand for our holiday entertaining.
Please do not miss out on this truly extraordinary wine.
Tasting Profile
Darkest burgundy hues with a dark ring of purple that runs a fine circle around the wine. Skinny, wine-stained tears are very slow to emerge, before descending slowly down the glass.
Very fragrant, lush and full on the nose, beginning with a rush of sweet plum, jammy blackberry, black cherry and cassis. These fresh aromas are followed by bramble, toasty oak, supple leather, dark licorice and a hint of flint.
Plush, crushed velvet with a grippy, medium body. The wine feels plump and ripe in the mouth, with expanse and dimension. This, without being heavy-handed or overpowering.
Black cherry, plum, tart blackberry and dark cocoa powder combine in a powerful and delicious confluence. After a moment, the wine settles in the mouth and reveals added flavors of dusty tobacco leaf, bramble, softly toasted oak, crushed dried violets and flint.
Long and very flavorful, with dark fruit yielding to earthen flavors of spice, oak, pepper and a lovely, drying hint of graphite minerality.
What the Winery Says
While we have been making wine from this varietal for several years, this is the inaugural bottling for Starry Night. We found an ideal vineyard location in the gravelly iron rich soil at a 1,200 foot elevation above Clear Lake. By allowing the grapes to fully develop, our 2010 Cabernet Franc has rich fruit drive flavors of raspberry, blueberries and cassis along with aromas of violets and pepper.
Enjoy this wine with beef, pork, lamb and hearty pasta dishes.
AWARDS
Best of Class North Coast Appellation; 2012 California State Fair Wine Competition
COMPOSITION
100% Cabernet Franc
COOPERAGE
American and French oak barrels
TECHNICAL DATA
PH: 3.63
TA: .673 g/100ml
Alcohol: 14.6%
Production: 340 cases
About the Winery
This year Starry Night Winery celebrates its twelfth anniversary as a bonded winery. The story of how we came into existence starts many years earlier when Wayne Hansen, Bruce Walker, Mike Miller and Skip Granger started making wine at an amateur level. Our motivation for this came from a shared life long passion for wine and an increasing disdain for the over priced and often mass-produced wines found in the market.
In our first year we crushed several hundred pounds of grapes and produced about fifty cases of Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay in Wayne’s basement. By combining the best of both new and traditional methods we found that we could make outstanding wine. We also spent time researching wine making methods, taking classes at UC Davis, and received the advice of some very helpful commercial winemakers. After several years of home winemaking, we finally applied for and received our bond several weeks before harvest in 1999.
At Starry Night Winery, our goal is to produce the finest wines possible that accentuate the regions from where the grapes are best grown. We currently produce Chardonnay and Zinfandel from the Russian River Valley, a Sauvignon Blanc from Napa Valley, Zinfandel from Dry Creek Valley and Alexander Valley as well as Zinfandel and Petite Sirah from the Lodi appellation. This coming summer we will be bringing back Adara, our Rhone Style Blend and this fall we will be releasing out first Cabernet Franc from Lake County.
In our first year we produced fewer than 1200 cases. Since then we have grown a bit each year and have leveled off our production to about 8,000 cases. Most of our wines are produced in quantities of less than 1,000 cases. By keeping our production small, we are able to pay attention to every detail in the winemaking process and allow the grapes to fully express their terroir. We would describe our winemaking style as minimalist in that we want the wines to make themselves with as little intervention as possible.
We are very excited about sharing our new wines and new releases with you!
