Hooray! Maxville is back - and we’ve got their award-winning, 90 point (Wine Enthusiast Magazine) Maxville 2014 Napa Valley Cabernet Franc. You know how much we love a great Franc, and you also know just how hard it is to find a great one. Today’s wine exceeds our standards. This wine is dark, flavorful and downright elegant. Enjoy!

It’s a deep dark garnet Cab Franc with a thin ring of crimson encircling the outermost edge. The nose is evocative of barrel spice with holiday spices and cedar leading the way into fruit notes of black currant, black cherry, and plum compote. On the palate, we find ample notes of mocha, espresso, dark chocolate with dark red fruit notes of pomegranate and cranberry. This well-integrated wine showcases smooth tannin that slides across the center of the palate with ease. Perfect for complex and subtle flavors such as a savory minestrone soup.

The Chiles Valley AVA is a very distinctive grape growing region in the northeastern part of the Napa Valley. It is a small, narrow, and very steep growing region that sits between St. Helena to the west and Lake Berryessa to the east. The regions warm climate and well-drained soils provide great growing conditions for Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes for today’s Gold Medal-winning wine was grown at 1000 feet above the valley floor.

If you get the chance, we really recommend that you schedule a tasting at this new Wine Spies favorite winery. The site is breathtaking, the winery itself is incredible and the wines, well… We’re not too shy to say it again… The wines are extraordinary.

Take a look at the gorgeous winery and surrounding area, in this short video:

Here’s what the wine press has to say:

90 points - Virgie Boone, Wine Enthusiast - “Garnet red in color our Cabernet Franc has warm nutmeg and ripe blueberry aromas. This beautiful wine is elegantly supported by hints of vanilla and an opulent texture with a persistent silky finish that keeps you wanting more. “

92 points - Jeb Dunnuk - “The 2014 Cabernet Franc is a step up over the Cabernet Sauvignon. It offers a distinct Cabernet Franc herbal, floral character to go with classic currants, black raspberry, and cherry fruit. Medium to full-bodied, elegant and seamless, with beautiful tannin, it should keep for 10-15 years.. “

90 points - Wilfred Wong, Wine.com - “The 2014 Maxville Cabernet Franc is true to the grape variety. Combined with 5% Petite Sirah, this wine delivers a heady richness of black fruit, smoke, and wood. The wine’s rewarding palate textures make it a nice choice for barbecued pork ribs. Drinks well now. (Tasted: October 18, 2016, San Francisco, CA). “