2021 Snowden Cabernet Franc "Melchior Kemper Vineyard," Napa Valley - 750ML

92 points (Vinous) | 92 points (Wine Advocate) | 92 points (Wine Spectator)

Since 1955, the Snowden family has farmed its hillside Napa property high above the valley floor, with this Cabernet Franc drawn from a tiny one-acre parcel of 962 vines at roughly 800 feet on rhyolite soils. In the warm, drought-shaped 2021 season, the wine shows precision over power, shaped in part by winemaker Diana Snowden Seysses, who also works at Domaine Dujac—a dual perspective that informs the wine’s lifted aromatics, textural finesse, and restrained, site-driven style.

Blend: 100% Cabernet Franc. Fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged 19 months in 50% new French oak.
Tasting Notes: Reserved at first, then increasingly expressive with violets, dried tobacco, rose petals, dark cherry, black tea, crushed herbs, mocha, and a subtle blood-orange freshness. The palate is silky and mid-weight, carrying dark cherry, savory herbs, and fine mineral tension through a long, mouth-watering finish with a delicate smoky-leathery nuance.
Structure: Refined and age-worthy; vibrant, subtle, and quietly concentrated.
Drink Window: 2024–2033 conservatively, with the balance to hold longer under ideal cellaring.

Decanting: If serving young, allow 45–90 minutes in a decanter to open the floral, herbal, and savory layers. With additional bottle age, a brief splash decant or 20–30 minutes should be sufficient.

A distinctive Napa Valley Cabernet Franc that bridges New World fruit with Old World sensibility, this bottling offers both immediate intrigue and thoughtful aging potential—particularly appealing to collectors who value nuance, terroir transparency, and a more refined expression of Napa hillside fruit.