Grape Varieties

Cabernet Franc

Spring Mountain Vineyard

It is moderately vigorous, moderate yielding, and an early season ripener. Cabernet Franc is admired for beautiful, intense, aroma which ranges from tones of raspberries to those of violets depending on the growing conditions. It's bud break is average and it ripens mid-season. Cabernet Franc produces balanced, early maturing wines. It is lighter colored and less tannic than its Cabernet Sauvignon offspring, yet it can be harder and more angular than Merlot. It might be said that the variety is somewhere between Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in its general flavor characteristics.

Cabernet Franc blends well with Merlot. In Bordeaux it finds its highest use in Cheval Blanc, where it is 30% to 45% of the planting (depending on to whom you talk). Though it originated in Bordeaux it is widely planted elsewhere, particularly in the Loire Valley where it produces soft fragrant wines. It is often successfully vinified as a rose outside of Bordeaux.

It is usually grafted on moderately vigorous rootstocks , but when in shallow soils, a dry warm climate, or on dry farmed soils a rootstock of more vigor is recommended.