Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Connoisseurs' Guide
90% Pinot Noir; 10% Chardonnay. Leading with a creamy and immediately involving nose of cherries and autolyzed yeast that hits the mark when it comes to champenized richness, but still a wine that is remarkably bright and fresh for one of its age, Frank Family’s 2015 Brut Rosé proves that fruitiness and sophistication are in no way mutually exclusive. It is impeccably balanced with a creamy, mouthfilling mousse and a lengthy, layered finish, and, even though it is drinking beautifully at the moment, it is so alive and energetic that it is a sure bet to provide lovely drinking for years yet to come.
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James Suckling
This chardonnay-pinot noir blend is half barrel-fermented and it’s the top sparkling wine from the Frank family. Snappy red cherries and raspberries merge with more mellow apple and pear flavors on tiny bubbles with appetizing acidity.
Since the founding of the winery in 1992, Frank Family Vineyards has poured their passion for land, grape growing and winemaking into each and every bottle of Frank Family Vineyards wine. Today they own over 450 acres of the finest vineyard land checkerboarded throughout the Napa Valley. This allows them to control quality and cultivate sustainably on their own estate and enables winemaker, Todd Graff, to blend perfectly balanced wines. With a commitment to crafting the finest representation of Napa Valley wines, Frank Family Vineyards hopes to create a legacy for generations to come.
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
Known for elegant wines that combine power and finesse, Carneros is set in the rolling hills that straddle the southernmost parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties. The cooling winds from the abutting San Pablo Bay, combined with lots of midday California sunshine, create an ideal environment for producing wines with a perfect balance of crisp acidity and well-ripened fruit.
This cooler pocket of California lends itself to growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. Carneros is an important source of sparkling wines made in the style of Champagne as well.