This very limited bottling shows the compelling potential of Cabernet Franc from a top vineyard. Though it’s often used as a spice in Avennia's Bordeaux blends, this wine, from the legendary Champoux Vineyard, has its own unique character and complexity that convinced them to feature it alone.
“Featuring a dark garnet color, this year’s Cabernet Franc opens with dark red cherry, boysenberry, damp earth, winter mint, and hints of rose petal on the nose. The palate is weighty, full-bodied, and complex, with mulberry, tobacco leaf, earthy notes, and savory herbs, kept lively with bright acidity. One of the standouts of the vintage, this beauty can stay in the cellar another year or two, and be enjoyed over the following decade plus." - Chris Peterson, Winemaker
"From a cooler site in the Horse Heaven Hills and all varietal, the 2017 Cabernet Franc Champoux Vineyard has brilliant notes of crème de cassis, red plums, chocolate, spice, flowery incense, and cedarwood. Beautifully textured, medium to full-bodied, and balanced on the palate, it shows the elegance and purity of the vintage yet still packs plenty of opulence and texture. It’s one of the finest expressions of this variety I’ve tasted from Washington State. Drink this beauty any time over the coming 10-15 years.”
- Jeb Dunnuck (April 2020), 96 pts
"Good dark red. Dark berries, licorice and tobacco leaf aromas, along with some chocolatey oak. Suave and utterly smooth on the palate, conveying a velvety texture to its highly complex flavors of raspberry, licorice, espresso, tobacco, nutmeg and loam. Wonderfully sweet, round, savory wine with noble tannins and enough energy (the wine was lightly acidified) to ensure mid-term ageability. I'd love to have the chance to taste this superb Cabernet Franc next to one of the single-vineyard Gran Enemigo examples from Alejandro Vigil's Bodega Aleanna in Mendoza. (3.95 pH; a selection of five barrels, one of them new) - Stephen Tanzer”
- Antonio Galloni's Vinous (December 2019), 95 pts
Marty Taucher and Chris Peterson (Seattle Magazine’s 2017 Winemaker of the Year and International Wine Report's 2023 Washington State Winemaker of the Year) got together in 2009, at first only ...
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