The other Cabernet

Napa Valley means Cabernet Sauvignon to most wine drinkers. Yet it only accounts for about a third of the valley’s acreage, leaving plenty of room for a number of lesser-known grapes. The other Cabernet, for example. In recent vintages Cabernet Franc has quietly carved out a respectable niche. A decade ago, producers had almost no pure Cab Franc offerings. But now more than two dozen producers bottle a Cabernet Franc or Franc-heavy blend.

Napa Valley Cab Francs reflect the valley’s diverse soils and climates: high-toned succulence in the cool Carneros and southern valley districts, more firmly structured power in the northern valley and dense richness in the mountains.

This auspicious debut has been a long time coming.

Cabernet Franc is Cabernet Sauvignon’s dad. Mom is Sauvignon Blanc. At some point in the distant past, Cab Franc and Sauvignon Blanc were selected and cultivated for the desirability of their wines. Over time, both found their places in wine geography -- and not far apart. Cabernet Franc settled in Bordeaux, primarily on the right bank of the Gironde around St. Emilion, and in the middle Loire Valley around Chinon. Sauvignon Blanc found a home on the gravelly flatlands of Bordeaux’s left bank, and in the upper Loire around Sancerre and Pouilly-sur-Loire.

Wines from both grapes have strong personalities that tend to polarize wine drinkers. Their bright acidity and prominent herbaceous notes appeal to some and alienate others. For that reason, they take a back seat to Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.

Ironically, that distinctive herbaceous accent may be the key to Cabernet Franc’s new popularity. The new model for California Cabernet Sauvignon is generic fruitiness -- wines that are full-bodied with rich cherry-berry-oak flavor. Such wines may be delicious, but they lack the woodsy aromas and flavors that have signaled the great Cabernet Sauvignon-based Bordeaux.

Glimpse of the future

Visiting Napa Valley wineries in the 1980s, one encountered barrel samples of Cabernet Franc. Invariably they were for blending, part of the valley’s rush to embrace all things Bordelais. I have clear memories of some, shining impressions of ruby-red wines that were immediately appealing for their perfume and bright fruit. Those wines provided refreshing breaks from the dense, extracted Cabernet Sauvignons typical of the time -- and they also provided glimpses of the future.

Too much finesse makes a light, insipid wine, while too much concentration makes a rustic wine. Each grape has its happy medium, where power and finesse are balanced and the true nature of both grape and terroir come through. Cabernet Franc shows best as an elegant wine, not a heavily extracted purple monster.

Bottles of pure or mostly pure Cabernet Franc began to appear in the early ‘90s. The first were curiosities. A generally favorable response encouraged more producers to flirt with Franc. When phylloxera presented an opportunity to second-guess the varietal mix in the valley’s vineyards, Cabernet Franc’s root-hold expanded, from negligible in the early 1980s to more than 1,000 acres today. This is still a tiny portion of the valley’s 40,000 acres.

Every producer who looks at it sees something different. There are as many different styles of Napa Valley Cabernet Franc as there are winemakers willing to grapple with it. This is a good time to taste through the current range of Francs, because the quality level is consistently high while the individual expressions of location and winemaking style are still all over the board.

Here are some producers whose style has been consistent, vintage to vintage:

Lang & Reed offer the least typical, and, to me, most interesting Napa Valley Cabernet Francs. They remind me of Jouguet’s “Chene de Vert,” about as big as Chinon reds get but still much juicier and lip-smackin’ good than the sterner, brooding Merlot-Franc wines of St. Emilion and its satellite appellations.

Lang & Reed was founded in 1996 by Napa Valley marketing consultant John Skupny and his wife, Tracey. They produce two 100% Cabernet Francs, primarily from well-drained gravelly soils in a warm location near St. Helena. One is slightly more substantial than the other, due mostly to barrel aging. But both are firmly in that lively, high-toned camp.

The original concept, Skupny said, “was that since nobody was toying with this, we could carve out our own niche, and if somebody said, ‘Name the top five Cabernet Francs from California,’ we’d be on the list.” I would nominate both the Lang & Reeds for the top of the list.

Niebaum-Coppola Cabernet Franc is made from organically grown descendants of the valley’s original Cabernet Franc vines. It consistently shows a combination of deep, radiant fruit flavor and pointed juiciness that reflects the well-drained alluvial soils and superbly balanced climate of Rutherford.

Chappellet Vineyard’s 34-year-old Franc vines also yield a remarkably concentrated, vibrant wine -- but one that consistently shows off the rocky terrain of Pritchard Hill, high above the valley’s east side, in its tannic richness and breadth on the palate.

Robert Sinskey produces gorgeous Cabernet Francs with the perfume and intense fruit typical of the cool Carneros district. Much of Carneros is too chilly to ripen red Bordeaux grapes. But these vines grow on a warm patch of red volcanic soil in a rare location sheltered from the marine breezes. Not far away, Truchard Vineyards shows the same distinctive regional qualities with the plump fruit and lithe suppleness of its estate Franc.

Warmer, rich character

Just a grape’s-throw north, in the Yountville area, Trefethen Vineyards combines the bracing acidity of Carneros with warmer, richer character that hints at the effects of up-valley heat.

And how different from all those are the massively concentrated Dalla Valle Maya (50% Franc/50% Sauvignon) and feline-sleek Viader (40% Franc/60% Sauvignon), both from very warm locations on the valley’s eastern slopes. These producers have turned the traditional St. Emilion blend of Cabernet Franc and Merlot on its head by substituting Cabernet Sauvignon for Merlot -- uniting the two Cabernets, father and son, in uniquely Californian blends.