St. Francis Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (1.5L) 1997

The grapes used to make the St. Francis Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon come primarily from our vineyard situated high in the Mayacamas mountain range between Sonoma and Napa County. It provides the wines backbone and classic Cabernet personality. The older, low-yielding vines produce intensely concentrated grapes of particular depth of color and tannin which typically ripen by mid-October.

The fruit is hand-harvested and crushed into temperature controlled stainless steel tanks. Fermentation takes place over a period of eight to fifteen days. The wine is then pressed into stainless steel tanks where malolactic fermentation is completed over the next six weeks. The different lots are racked into new and one year old French and American oak barrels for an aging period of 24 months. The blend is then assembled without fining or filtration, bottled and held for eight months prior to release.