Winemaker Notes
Adelaida winemaker Jeremy Weintraub sees Cabernet Franc as an overlooked varietal in Paso Robles wine country, even though it has heat and drought-tolerant characteristics. The heat benefits the wine by creating aromas of black cherry, violet, and cedarwood. These aromas meld effortlessly with flavors of blackberry, anise, and sweet tobacco. This wine brings balance and grace to the glass.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Leading off the Bordeaux variety blends, the 2019 Cabernet Franc Signature Viking Estate Vineyard (100% Cabernet Franc) offers a big, ripe, sweetly fruited nose of blackcurrants, peppery herbs, graphite, and lead pencils. It's rich and medium to full-bodied, with wonderful purity, sweet tannins, and a great finish.
Range: 93-95 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Cabernet Franc Signature Viking Vineyard, aged in 60% new oak, is elegantly styled and lovely, with a medium ruby-purple color and alluring perfume of red and black currants, green pepper and roses. The medium-bodied palate is silky and fresh with iron-like mineral tones and a long, spicy finish.
Cabernet Franc, a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon, is the subtler and more delicate of the Cabernets. Today Cabernet Franc produces outstanding single varietal wines across the wine-producing world. Somm Secret—One of California's best-kept secrets is the Happy Canyon appellation of Santa Barbara. Here Cabernet Franc shines as a single varietal wine or in blends, expressing sumptuous fruit, savory aromas and polished tannins.
