Local Wine Events

Event ID #266607

Event Details

Join us as we sample three wines from Napa's Franciscan Estates:

2007 Sauvignon Blanc
Fresh and lively. Vibrant, layered flavors of lime, lemongrass and melon with hints of minerality on a crisp, elegant finish.

Franciscan's 2007 Sauvignon Blanc is a labor of love. It is a blend of fruit from several Napa Valley sub-appellations, made in small lots using a variety of techniques to give each lot the most appropriate attention. For example, some vineyard blocks offered beautiful, vibrant freshness in the juice, so we swiftly pressed the grapes and fermented coolly and slowly to capture the purity of fruit flavor. Other lots of grapes had skins that were rich and expressive, so we gave them skin contact, a classic technique in New Zealand. They tasted the juice hourly for 6 to 12 hours, to hit the peak of lime and lemongrass, then they pressed.


2005 Merlot
Round, full-bodied palate with vibrant dark cherry fruit, sweet herbs and silky mouthfeel. Very supple and elegant, the finely knit tannins highlight bold fruit and sweet tobacco notes, giving a velvety finish.

Franciscan’s Merlot grows in the cooler half of Napa Valley, from the winery’s estate in the heart of the Oakville District on south to vineyards in Carneros.  These cooler vineyards give more vibrant flavors and denser structure to the wine—two qualities that are critical to growing outstanding Merlot.  In the winery, each vineyard block is kept separate through the winemaking process, allowing each lot the time and care necessary to reach its full expression, like a collection of limited release wines.  Finally, each small lot is carefully blended to craft Franciscan’s signature style—plush, rich and vibrant, yet with supple tannins and texture.

"Magnificat"
73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 2% Malbec, 1% Petit Verdot, 1% Cabernet Franc; Enticing aromas of dark cherry and black plum with a dark chocolate background and notes of sage and black tea.  Appealing and complex.

Years ago, legendary Napa Valley winemaker Andre Tchelistcheff tasted wines from Franciscan’s Oakville estate and suggested that this vineyard would reach its finest expression as a blend in the style of the eminent wines of Bordeaux. Many of the great wines of the world are blends, but when Franciscan started making Magnificat, there was no name for such a wine produced in America. The laws did not allow it to be labeled as Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, but it was clearly more than a mere table wine. So in 1985, Franciscan joined with a few other Napa Valley vintners, offering bottles of their proprietary blends with labels that read “Wine Waiting for a Name.” This was the beginning of a successful campaign to give winemakers the freedom to make the best wine possible, under the name Meritage.