San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
‘Every year we sell out’: Why this under-the-radar red wine is in vogue
Cabernet Franc assumes breakout role with patrons for aroma, excellent pairing
Traditionally treated as a supporting cast member to Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc is poised for a breakout role in California.
Suddenly in vogue for its distinct aromas and ability to pair well with many foods, demand for this red grape variety from Bordeaux is so high that it’s more expensive than Cabernet Sauvignon. Cabernet Franc in Napa County cost wineries an average of $9,300 per ton in 2021 — up from $4,200 in 2007 — compared to $8,000 a ton for Cabernet Sauvignon, according to the Department of Agriculture’s California Grape Crush Report.
Kashy Khaledi, proprietor of Napa’s trendy Ashes & Diamonds, said the cost of Cabernet Franc grapes he sources has risen 30% over two years. It’s forced him to raise bottle prices this year, from $75 to $80 — though that’s unlikely to slow down sales. “Every year we sell out of it,” said Khaledi. “Every year it becomes more and more successful.”
Even though Cabernet Franc is the genetic parent of Cabernet Sauvignon — along with Sauvignon Blanc — the powerful grip that Cabernet Sauvignon has over California, and Napa Valley especially, will be challenging to overcome. The high cost, farming challenges and limited supply could ultimately prevent the grape from becoming more than the latest fad.
When John Skupny started his Napa Valley winery Lang & Reed in 1993, he chose to focus on Cabernet Franc, which is typically lighter-bodied than Cabernet Sauvignon. He wanted to do something niche, something that would make him stand out, and sold his first release for $18 a bottle. “(Cabernet) Franc didn’t have enough traction for somebody to come in and buy a $50 bottle of wine,” said Skupny. “There was just no way. There were many times when I thought, ‘Why on Earth are we rolling this rock up the hill?’”
Thirty years later, Lang & Reed is arguably California’s most noted Cabernet Franc producer. Skupny still produces an affordable Cabernet Franc at $45, but his top offering sells for $250 — something he said he still can’t believe.
Cabernet Franc’s foray into Napa Valley can be traced back to Joseph Phelps Vineyard’s launch of Insignia, a red Bordeaux-style blend, in the 1970s. The wine — which now sells for over $300 a bottle — was Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant, with small, varying percentages of other Bordeaux grapes blended in. These other varieties each play their role, adding characteristics like complexity, acid and color to make the wine more balanced and dynamic than a single-varietal bottling.
After Insignia, it seemed like every Napa Valley winery had its own proprietary Bordeaux blend, which meant planting Cabernet Franc and other Bordeaux grapes — like Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot — in small quantities. But Cabernet Franc “was an afterthought,” said Skupny, as these varieties were all planted in “secondary soils” to save the best spots for Cabernet Sauvignon. If vintners had enough leftover after finalizing their blends, they’d typically bottle small lots as single varietals — but the Cabernet Franc releases typically didn’t do much to elevate the grape’s reputation.
Cabernet Franc is a fickle grape, and when it’s not planted in the right soils, “it shows,” said Skupny. The wrong soils, or inattentive farming, can cause Cabernet Franc’s naturally occurring pyrazines (aromatic compounds) to overshine. This results in a wine that’s often described as extremely green or vegetal, with overpowering aromas of bell pepper or jalapeño.
There have been a few notable exceptions, though. In the late 1980s, cult Napa Cabernet house Dalla Valle released Maya, a Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc blend that allows the Franc, which makes up roughly 40% of the wine, to shine. “It was one of the first wines that stopped me in my tracks when I moved to Napa,” said winemaker Andy Erickson, who has made Cabernet Franc since 2003 for Napa wineries like Arietta and his own Favia. In the mid-1990s, Arietta launched H Block, a Cabernet Franc-heavy blend sourced from Hudson Ranch in Carneros; the vine cuttings came from Napa’s famed To Kalon vineyard.
While these wines developed an avid following, Cabernet Franc remained in Cabernet Sauvignon’s shadow. When Khaledi initially purchased the Ashes & Diamonds site, which included Cabernet Franc plantings, “everyone” advised him to “replant the whole thing to Cabernet Sauvignon,” he said. That was 2013, and in recent years, there’s been a shift. A slow, but steady, Cabernet Franc renaissance is afoot as more vintners plant the grape in ideal soils and locations, working with a range of clones and producing a diverse array of styles.
Their work is being bolstered by a growing popularity of wines from Loire Valley, the French wine region revered for its elegant Cabernet Francs with tart, red fruit flavors. It’s also in line with a deviation among American wine consumers, some of whom are trading big, overripe reds for lighter, more approachable styles.
“(Cabernet Franc is) a more feminine variety than Cabernet Sauvignon. It really fits today’s interest in wines of less concentration and wines that have more finesse,” said Lee Hudson, who planted the Arietta Cabernet Franc at his ranch in 1986. His Cabernet Franc is so in demand that he’s recently decided to plant an additional six acres.
It’s a great food wine, too, said Khaledi, and its vegetal flavors pair particularly well with plant-based food. A recent Ashes & Diamonds menu, for example, paired Cabernet Franc with the German egg noodles known as spaetzle, made with cordyceps, a type of fungus.
Popular natural wine producers, like Broc Cellars, Lo-Fi Wines and Field Recordings, have also given the grape a boost. They produce Cabernet Franc in a fresh and easydrinking style, forgoing the tradition of lengthy aging in oak barrels to add structure and complexity. The bottles are packaged with playful labels and names, attracting younger consumers. Field Recordings, for instance, has released a black label that spells “Franc” in bold, gold capital letters, while Broc calls its Cabernet Franc “KouKou,” a play off the informal French greeting “coucou.” Broc owner Chris Brockway said that when he changed the name from simply “Cabernet Franc,” the wine “definitely picked up in sales.”
Despite this progress, Skupny firmly believes that Cabernet Franc will always be a niche variety in California. In addition to the rising cost of fruit, there simply isn’t enough of it, he argued. In California, there are only about 3,400 acres of Cabernet Franc planted — the majority of which is in Napa County and throughout the Central Coast — compared to roughly 95,000 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon.
Growers are also unlikely to pull out more popular, lucrative grapes, like Cabernet Sauvignon, in favor of it, especially considering that Cabernet Franc is a notoriously challenging grape to farm. It’s thinskinned, prone to virus and, without attentive management, can easily become too big and tannic, or green. “It’s not for the faint of heart,” said Khaledi. “It has its one agenda, and it doesn’t care what your agenda is.”
But overall, those committed to wrangling this unsung hero said they’d prefer it actually doesn’t go mainstream. Several winemakers pointed to Pinot Noir’s California boom in the early 2000s: “Everybody planted it everywhere, and a lot of it didn’t make really good Pinot Noir. Now, we’re seeing a lot of those vineyards being torn out,” said Broc Cellars’ Brockway. “(I don’t think) Cabernet Franc is in danger of being overdone in the wrong places.”