What a fantastic nose this wine has! Bright and alive with scents of tart red fruits. There is also some white pepper and smoked meat spice, as well. On the palate, it also trends toward the brighter style of this varietal with black raspberry and tart cherry fruit. The wood and tannin is light and clean. Marvelous!

Sometimes it's hard to describe a wine without specifically highlighting the varietal involved, but this is a wine that just smells like Cabernet France. There's a slightly bitter and savory herbal note present the whole way through, and around that there's sweet red and black fruits, cherries and bramble fruits, and a long hit of green peppercorn. The palate is lush and rich, but very medium to light body overall, there's a lot of dark fruits like blackberry and black cherry, but also this dark tobacco note wrapped up in the mix. The fruit starts fresh and then gets just a little jammy around the edges, but nothing overwhelming or overbearing about it. This is a driving and pushing Cabernet Franc presented in the most varietal of styles - it's like the Loire plopped down in Carmel Valley for a day just so this could be harvested, and well worthy of your time and attention.