T. Berkley Wines spotlight
The market on this bottle
Wine-Searcher tracks this 2022 T. Berkley Skypine Vineyard Carbernet Franc Pine Mountain-Cloverdale across the open market. Their published U.S. low is $50.18 and the average is $50.18. Our slash is $50.00.
2022 T. Berkley Skypine Vineyard Carbernet Franc Pine Mountain-Cloverdale, USA
Taylor Berkley Boydstun's high-elevation Skypine Cabernet Franc, tobacco and blackberry from above the fog, a 2022 at fifty dollars.
The 2022 is 100 percent Cabernet Franc from Skypine Vineyard in Pine Mountain-Cloverdale Peak: tobacco, blackberry, mocha, and espresso, now $50.
Cabernet Franc from a mountain quilt, not a Napa costume
Skypine is Taylor Berkley Boydstun's most extreme Cabernet Franc site: over 2,000 feet in the Pine Mountain-Cloverdale Peak AVA, Tim Ward's mosaic of vines, three Franc blocks above the fog. Wine Enthusiast's Tom Capo scored the 2022 at 95 and told you to wait. Fifty dollars is the winery number. The catalog name carries a spelling error. The grape is Cabernet Franc.
The house
Taylor Berkley Boydstun founded T. Berkley in 2016 as a Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc project, Loire-minded, California fruit, minimal intervention.
The wine
Single-vineyard Cabernet Franc from Skypine. Native yeast, French oak, then concrete. 13.0% ABV. 215 cases.
The scores
Wine Enthusiast 95: tobacco, blackberry, mocha, gripping tannin, cherry, chocolate malt, licorice, espresso.
The drinker
Decant 30 to 45 minutes. Serve near 62 F. Sirloin or a garlic-herb rack of lamb.
Tobacco and blackberry, then espresso grip
Capo found beautiful tobacco, blackberry, and mocha on the nose, then rich gripping tannin with concentrated cherry, chocolate malt, black licorice, and ground espresso. Patience is the note. This is mountain Franc, not a plush Napa red.
A high-altitude Cabernet Franc year with real structure. French oak then concrete. Drink it with a decant, or wait as Capo suggests.
Tobacco, blackberry, mocha, cherry, chocolate malt, black licorice, espresso.
Powerful tannin, 13.0% ABV, mountain grip, French oak and concrete.
Espresso and malt. Decant 30 to 45 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F.
French oak, then concrete, on a 2,000-foot site
Boydstun raises the single-vineyard Cabernet Francs in French oak and finishes them in concrete. Skypine is the newest of those sites: three Cabernet Franc blocks on Tim Ward's Pine Mountain mosaic, picked for mountain structure rather than California sweetness.
Native yeast, small lots, unfined and unfiltered when he can. The 13.0 percent alcohol is the tell: this is Loire-minded California, not a 15 percent Cabernet impression.
215 cases. Serve near 62 F. The tannins want protein and time in the glass.
It started with Cabernet Franc
Boydstun launched T. Berkley after harvests in New Zealand, Australia, and Austria, then spent years visiting the Loire so California Franc would have a point of view.
The brand is a treatise in Cabernet Franc: old vines, organic growers, site on the label. Skypine is the mountain chapter.
Tim Ward quilted the Pine Mountain-Cloverdale Peak hillside. The Franc blocks sit above the fog line and take the weather.
Do not look for a different grape in the copy. The catalog title misspells Cabernet. The wine does not.
Sirloin and a garlic-herb rack of lamb
High-elevation Franc with espresso tannin wants roasted meat. Sirloin with avocado sauce and a garlic-herb rack of lamb are the live pairing.
Two plates. One sirloin. One garlic-herb rack of lamb. Both can take Skypine tannin.
Decant 30 to 45 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F. The tannins are gripping. Air is for tobacco and mocha.
Roasted Sirloin Steak with Avocado Sauce
A roasted sirloin and a cool sauce for mountain Cabernet Franc.
Why it works: Beef fat meets gripping tannin. The sauce keeps 13 percent alcohol feeling fresh.
View Recipe for sirloin steak with avocado sauce (opens in a new tab)
Roast Rack of Lamb with Garlic and Herb Crust
Garlic, herbs, and a rack that can stand up to espresso tannin.
Why it works: Lamb and herbs echo tobacco and mocha. The wine's grip has somewhere to land.
View Recipe for roast rack of lamb (opens in a new tab)Put this mountain Cabernet Franc in the cart
Wine Enthusiast 95. Skypine Vineyard, 215 cases, 13.0 percent alcohol. Fifty dollars.
Put it in the cart. This is T. Berkley's high-elevation Franc, priced at the winery number.
