Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pride Mountain does an amazing job with Cabernet Franc. They somehow achieve superb flavor and aromatic intensity without the weight one would expect from a wine so rich and full. The terrific, extremely textured 1999 Cabernet Franc boasts a floral and black fruit-scented nose with an underlying mineral/earthiness. The wine is medium to full-bodied with an ethereal sense of lightness. The finish goes on and on. There is plenty of sweet tannin to go along with the copious fruit and extract.
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Wine & Spirits
Grown on the west-facing, Sonoma slopes of Pride's mountain vineyard, this cabernet franc has reached an essential ripeness. It's gone beyond any green elements to darker berry fruit - blueberry and black currant - taking on the glorious texture this variety can provide given the right opportunity. It buzzes with freshness, the ripe tannins slowly giving way to all the fruit in the center, but not yet giving up all the activity at the edges. Those Edges hum with energy, unbound by the wine's impressive weight, waiting to yield more distinctive expressions out of the clay-like tannin as the wine develops with age. An eloquent statement of cabernet franc in the New World, it would be fascinating to pour this at dinner with a franc-centric vintage of Pomerol's Vieux Chateau Certan when both are mature.
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.
Home to a diverse array of smaller AVAs with varied microclimates and soil types, Sonoma County has something for every wine lover. Physically twice as large as Napa Valley, the region only produces about half the amount of wine but boasts both tremendous quality and variety. With its laid-back atmosphere and down-to-earth attitude, the wineries of Sonoma are appreciated by wine tourists for their friendliness and approachability. The entire county intends to become a 100% sustainable winegrowing region by 2019.
Sonoma County wines are produced with carefully selected grape varieties to reflect the best attributes of their sites—Dry Creek Valley’s consistent sunshine is ideal for Zinfandel, while the warm Alexander Valley is responsible for rich, voluptuous red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are important throughout the county, most notably in the cooler AVAs of Russian River, Sonoma Coast and Carneros. Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Syrah have also found a firm footing here.