Featherstone Winery & Vineyard Featherstone Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2009

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Soils: Clay, Loam Planted: 1988 Rootstock: Unknown Vine Density: 1200/Acre Date Picked: November 20th 2009 Fruit Condition: Extremely Healthy Handling: Hand Picked into small 25 kg picking bins allowing the fruit to arrive at the winery’s sorting table intact. Fruit was hand sorted crushed and de-stemmed. Fermentation: Fermented with wild yeast strains. Fermentation took place in small ½ tonne vats. Primary fermentation took 17 days in total, wine left on skins for 21 days total. Pressed into barrel and inoculated with commercial malolactic bacteria Bottling date: September 10th 2010 Total Production: 485 cases Wine analysis at bottling: pH3.57 T.A 6.9g/L Alc. 12.3%alc/vol R.S 2 g/L

Serve this wine between 60-65 degrees Farenheit or 15-18 degrees Celsius.

Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc is one of the five grapes in Bordeaux blends, along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot. (Cabernet Franc, along with Sauvignon Blanc, is actually one of the genetic parents of Cabernet Sauvignon.) This thin-skinned, early-ripening grape has lighter body and acidity than the robust Cabernet Sauvignon, but is more susceptible to spring frosts.

In France, which boasts the most vineyard acreage of Cabernet Franc in the world, several regions have more plantings than others, such as St.Emilion, the Loire Valley's Chinon (where it's called Breton) and southwest France (where it's called Bouchy). Romania, Hungary, the Balkans, and the Friuli region of north eastern Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Long Island, New York, southeast Napa Valley, California and Washington State all grow this wine. Cabernet Franc is rarely bottled as a stand-alone varietal.

This medium-bodied, ruby red wine has the signature aromas of Cabernet Franc which tend to be herbaceous or vegetative, like green bell peppers or stems, especially when the grape hasn't ripened sufficiently or is over-cropped. Other notes include allspice, dark plums, violets, raspberry, black cherry, red currant, vanilla, coconut, smoke, toast, tar, mushroom, earth, cedar and cigar box.

Pair Cabernet Franc wines with goat cheese, chicken, duck, Asian-styled noodles, babaganoush, lightly spiced curries, game birds, lasagna, cheese pizza, mint sauce, rosemary, choucroute garnie, Mexican dishes and turkey (dark meat).