Ravines Cabernet Franc

Ravines 2012 Cabernet Franc is exceptional, earning 93 points from Wine & Spirits Magazine. 2012 was a remarkable vintage in the Finger Lakes region. Budbreak, following a mild Winter, was in mid- April, which is the earliest on record. A warm and sunny growing season allowed for unprecedented ripeness levels. The grapes for this wine were all hand-harvested and de-stemmed into open top Harvest assistant Xavier punches down grapes twice daily.fermenters. After starting as a whole berry fermentation, Morten likes to do hand "punch-downs" as a gentle method of extracting all the good stuff from the fruit and none of the bad (like harsh tannins). It's time consuming but worth it. Skins were hand bucketed out to leave behind most of the seeds and sediment and avoid sources of astringency. Malolactic fermentation then took place in barrels for improved texture. The resulting wine has a beautiful deep ruby red color with ripe plum and red berry fruit, nice fruit concentration, with spicy and earthy notes and great minerality. It is a full bodied style with very soft texture but good structure.