If you are visiting us for the first time, Welcome! The Wine Spies feature one exceptional wine each day – and we only bring you wines that we ourselves seek out and love. Always, the wines are great. Sometimes even better than that, as is the case with today’s wine from Yates Family Vineyard.

Special Note:

Yates Family Vineyard is the new label from Napa Redwoods Estate of Napa, California. Only the name has changed. Today’s wine was produced before the name change.

SAVINGS ALERT!: Buy six or more bottles today and we’ll give you free ground shipping with coupon code NAPASPY

Mission Codename: A Special Providence

Operative: Agent Red

Objective: Penetrate the private archives of the Yates Family and retrieve a quantity of their superior 2003 Cabernet Franc for our Operatives

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Yates Family Vineyard

Wine Subject: 2003 Cabernet Franc

Winemaker: Michael Yates

Backgrounder: Cabernet Franc is one of Agent Red’s favorite red varietals. Perhaps this is because its flavors are often richly layered, complex, elegant and delicious. Or, perhaps he loves Cabernet Franc so much because it pairs so exceptionally with many different foods. One of the most notable things about Cabernet Franc is the fact that finding excellent examples can be very difficult. Today, Agent Red returns to Central Command with a superb example of this great varietal. Getting him to share some with you could prove difficult. Read his tasting notes and mission report below for full details.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Deep garnet with a darker burgundy heart, ruby edges, a viscous surface and mixed skinny/chubby legs that move down the glass at differing speeds

Smell – Simultaneously bright and deep with mixed aromas of ripe fruits of cherry and dark plum and cassis, mingled with earthy aromas of forest floor and mildest barnyard sweetwood

Feel – Soft mouth feel with a velvety texture that leads to a mouth coating feel and delicate medium tannins that dry the top of the tongue, roof of the mouth and the cheeks

Taste – Deeply delicious with layers of flavors that mirror the aromas. Add to these tastes additional flavors of mild fresh herbs, edible flowers and mild cigar box

Finish – This wine coats the mouth, leaving behind a well-coated mouth, with flavors that tail off – first sweet then slightly more tart and dry

Conclusion – On first taste of this wine, I was in love.

If some wines are rock stars, race cars, or prom queens, then today’s wine is a leather bound novel, a comfortable chair and a cozy pair of slippers by a warm fireplace.

This wine is both California-smooth and French-rustic, delivering the best qualities of both Cab Franc growing regions. Read my mission report, below, for more details on this great wine.

Vintage Comparison – I had the good fortune to compare this wine with its younger sibling, the 2004 vintage of the same wine. The differences are readily apparent and both wines are fantastic, but in a blind tasting here at Central Command, the 2003 was the clear favorite. The ‘03 exhibits more sophistication and a more robust body, with deeper aromas, fuller and more developed flavors and a better mouth feel. The wine is rounder, less tanic and better balanced than the 2004, which itself shows that it will certainly develop to give the 03’ a run for its money some day. Be sure to sign up for our Daily Dispatch, because we will certainly feature the ‘04 here in the coming months. Until then, grab a few bottles of this wonderful Cab Franc, which I declare to be a real Franc lover’s wine!

Mission Report:

Okay, so today’s report is less report and more oratory in praise of Cabernet Franc – and of this particular Cab Franc.

One of the genetic parents of Cabernet Sauvignon (the other parent is Sauvignon Blanc), Cabernet Franc has been called a real wine lover’s wine. To me, Cabernet Franc is the perfect wine – but only if you find yourself tasting a great example of the varietal.

Fans of the varietal hold an ardent reverence for the grape and for the delicious wines which spring from it. They find the wine to be the most universally pairable with foods (due to its high acidity) and they enjoy drinking it on its own. Unfortunately for fans of Cab Franc, locating great pne can be a hellish experience. Enter Me!

When I am out on my missions, I am always on the lookout for Cabernet Franc and I make it a point to try them all. With only 2000 acres planted in California, the varietal is hard to find. When you do find Cab Franc planted here, it is because it is usually used in improving the flavor and drinkability of other wines, including those called “Cabernet Sauvignon”, which only needs to contain 75% Cabernet Sauvignon to be called one.

Another reason that you see so few Cabernet Franc wines featured here is that not many pass my own personal taste test. Today’s wine passes with flying colors. This is a a big, chewy, delicious, yet soft, balanced and perfect example of how great a Cab Franc can be.

I was thrilled when The Wine Spies were allowed to raid the private Library of the Yates Family Vineyard, in search of wines to bring to our Operatives. When I surfaced with the 2003 and 2004 vintages of their Cabernet Franc, I knew that me and my fellow Wine Spies were in for some fun.

I convened a small spy-tasting at one of our safehouse locations led a blind tasting. Only I knew that the two wines were from Yates and after I wrapped the bottles in paper and mixed them up, I had no idea which was which.

After much ‘ooohing’ and ‘ahhhhing’, we all agreed that “Wine A” had a softer, more elegant and balanced feel than “Wine B”. It was a close call, but Wine A, the 2003, was the winner of the night. After revealing the identity of the wines, we all agreed that the 2004 was a great drink-now option, but with a little more bottle age, would only improve. For these reasons, we chose the 2003 and are making a small quantity available to our Operatives today.

Keep an eye on my future reports as I am certain that we will feature other great wines from Yates Family Vineyard in the future!

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Yates Family Vineyard and surrounding vineyards of Mt. Veeder can be seen in this satellite photo.