2024 Alexander Valley Vineyards Wetzel Family Estate Cabernet Franc, Sonoma County, USA
The market on this bottle
Wine-Searcher tracks this 2024 Alexander Valley Vineyards Wetzel Family Estate Cabernet Franc, Sonoma County across the open market. Their published U.S. low is $24.03 and the average is $24.03. Our slash is $25.00.
Alexander Valley Cabernet Franc 2024
2024 Alexander Valley Vineyards Wetzel Family Estate Cabernet Franc, Sonoma County, USA
Aromatic Cabernet Franc, estate grown in Alexander Valley.
Estate grown Cabernet Franc from Alexander Valley Vineyards, the Wetzel Family Estate. The winery price is $35. This bottle is $25.
Uncorked at Home with AVV: Sustainability, the winery's own film.
Cabernet Franc, on its own
Alexander Valley Vineyards has poured this Cabernet Franc since 1996, estate grown and bottled on the ground Cyrus Alexander settled in the 1840s. The Wetzels bought that homestead in 1962. Hank and Linda opened the winery in 1975, and a fourth generation is on the property now.
People sometimes treat Cabernet Franc as another Cabernet Sauvignon. This bottle is the other argument. It is 100% Cabernet Franc, and the winery built it for aroma and texture rather than tannin. Kevin Hall has made the wines since 1998. The vines run from the Russian River toward the Mayacamas, and the farming has carried a California Sustainable Winegrowing certificate since 2006.
A long, cool finish to a warm year
The winery calls 2024 one of the best vintages it has had in fifty years. Winter brought a lot of rain. Spring stayed cool. The peak of the season turned warm, and late summer eased off, with mild days and cool nights. The fruit came in with high acidity and layers of flavor.
Harvest ran from September 21 through October 12, 2024. The grapes went into smaller tanks, with pump-overs twice a day for two weeks, so the color and the flavor came out of the skins and the wine stayed supple.
Sixteen months in French oak
Kevin Hall aged it 16 months in French oak, all of it French, a quarter of the barrels new. Half of that new oak was a deeper medium-plus toast, and half was a medium toast. The time in barrel added mouthfeel and a little barrel spice. Alcohol is 14%.
The color is deep. Black cherry, black plum, cassis, and blueberry lead the nose, with earth, oak, vanilla, and mocha behind them. The flavors follow the same line, cassis, plum, black cherry, vanilla, blueberry, and oak, and the finish is polished. The winery ages the barrels in a 48,000 square foot underground cave, and calls it the largest barrel-aging cave in the country.
When you set this beside a Cabernet Sauvignon, which shows up first, the black cherry or the aromatic lift this Cabernet Franc keeps on its own?
Uncorked at Home with AVV: CYRUS, the winery's own film.
Pork chops, and a tomato sauce
The winery puts this Cabernet Franc with grilled or roasted red meat, with tomato dishes, and with cheese. Feta, goat cheese, brie, and aged cheddar are the ones they name. A pork chop with mushrooms and mozzarella is the plate their kitchen wrote for Cabernet Franc. A meat sauce over pappardelle is the tomato side.
Pork chops Lombardy
Pork chops with mushrooms and mozzarella.
Why it works: The winery wrote this chop for Cabernet Franc. The mushrooms meet the earth in the glass, and the cheese softens the texture.
View Recipe for Pork chops Lombardy (opens in a new tab)
Pappardelle Bolognese
Pappardelle with a meat and tomato sauce.
Why it works: Tomato is the other plate they name. The sauce meets the black fruit, and the finish stays polished.
View Recipe for Pappardelle Bolognese (opens in a new tab)Take the bottle.
Black cherry, cassis, and a polished Cabernet Franc finish.
The bottle is $25. Add it.
