Paracombe Cabernet Franc 1998

Paracombe is not a large winery, but it is a very special one. It's located in the Adelaide Hills, one of the most highly regarded cool climate regions of South Australia. The grapevines are meticulously cared for. And to take advantage of the morning sun for optimum fruit ripening, most of the vines are planted facing east. All red grapes are handpicked and the fruit is fermented cool in open tanks, hand plunged and then basket pressed. None of the wines are filtered. A three-year barrel rotation of French and American oak is employed with the red wines resting in oak for 20 months. The Paracombe vineyard was originally planted in 1983, following the Ash Wednesday bush fires that devastated the Adelaide Hills in February of that year. Proprietors Paul and Kathy Drogemuller took over a former dairy farm with the belief that it would be a good vineyard site and produce high quality fruit. Paracombe's first vintage was 1992, and although small in total production, the wines have developed a large following among wine lovers and restaurateurs in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. Today, in fact, much of Paracombe's yearly production is sold out before it's even bottled.