2022Reserve Cabernet Franc
2022Reserve Cabernet Franc
The 2022 Matthews Reserve Cabernet Franc is comprised of several vineyard parcels within the greater Columbia Valley. Key sites are from Royal Slope (Solaksen, Scarline), Red Mountain (Quintessence, Red Mountain Vineyard, Tremasi, Angela’s Vineyard), and Horse Heaven Hills (Spice Cabinet) allowing this wine to truly represent the broad flavor and aromatic expression of Cabernet Franc from the diverse terroir of the Columbia Valley AVA.
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The winemaking team worked with our vineyard managers to restrict yields, creating small, concentrated berries. Cool fall nights preserved freshness in the wine while continuing to develop flavor. Hand-harvesting took place in the early mornings in mid-October, and lasted into early November (a record for us).
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At the winery, the fruit was destemmed and berry sorted. Prior to fermentation, nearly 30% of volume was saignéed from tank to ensure maximum concentration across all varietals. Fermentations were kept even throughout primary, lasting an average of 14-17 days. Afterward, the wine spent and extra 2-3 weeks days in tank for extended maceration, before being barreled down into 100% new French oak (Taransaud, Gamba, Sylvain, Quintessence). The wine was cellared for 21 months with 38 barrels selected and carefully blended, resulting in only 949 cases. The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered to preserve purity, vibrancy, and intensity.
An impenetrable black cherry core captivates. The nose reveals intense dark plum and black raspberry preserves, alongside graphite, crushed violets, sweet cigar box, balsam, and forest floor. The palate offers mountain huckleberry, blueberry liqueur, black tea, fennel, cocoa dust, leather, and espresso crema. It evolves with time in the glass, a silky entry expanding to a plush mid-palate. The finish lingers with dusty, chalky tannins, sandalwood, black forest cake, and lavender.
Awards & Accolades
"The brilliant 2022 ‘Columbia Valley Reserve’ Cabernet Franc has a small portion of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blended in. Beautiful red and dark florals combine with milk chocolate, graphite, espresso grounds and shades of lavender on the nose. The stunning aromatics bring you back to the glass for more. The palate is deep and layered with a seamless texture, giving this a weightless profile. Very opulent and pillowy on the mouth, this is up there with the finest Cabernet Francs you will taste in Washington State. Savor this stunner now and over the next fifteen to twenty years. Drink 2024-204"
98 points, Owen Bargreen, owenbargreen.com
"The nose is intensely perfumed, offering a cascade of crushed red rose, violets, cocoa-dusted cherries, cedar shavings, and pencil graphite, layered with nuances of Earl Grey tea and roasted fig. The palate is silken and enveloping, with flavors of black raspberry, cassis liqueur, and spiced plum gliding over a fine, almost ethereal structure. Tannins are soft yet clearly defined, giving the wine both lift and longevity.... This is a benchmark example of Washington Cabernet Franc - lush, sculpted, and breathtaking in its composure."
97 points, Jeremy Young, International Wine Report
"The full-bodied 2022 Cabernet Franc Reserve offers beautiful floral and herbal qualities, blending 85% Cabernet Franc, 10% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Soft, supple tannins meet seductive, well-integrated oak, giving the palate a seamlessness of tremendous finesse and complexity. The finish is long, dry, and savory in oak spice, with a lasting note of violet. Cellar through 2042."
95 points, Virginie Boone, jebdunnuck.com
"Elegant and savoury across the board. There’s a balance of ripeness with the pyrazine, and in its riper forms, you get coffee, dried earth and graphite. dark florals, almost a brooding nature. There’s a tautness here, with early-season blackberries, pencil lead, and salt. Freshness of sapid black fruits, Franc is an oddball variety and can really vary from vintage to vintage."
95 points, Clive Pursehouse, Decanter
"Peppery and intense, the 2022 Cabernet Franc Reserve blossoms in the glass with an enticing blend of blood orange, dried roses, incense, and red plums. It opens with a balanced inner sweetness, —silky smooth and seamless, —with pretty red berry fruits and a saline mineral tinge that adds tension toward the close. It's long and potent, quite spicy too, with a tart black raspberry concentration that puckers the cheeks yet also somehow leaves the mouth watering for more."
94+ points, Eric Guido, Vinous
"Ripe blackcurrants and blackberries on the nose, together with cherry chocolate, tobacco, pine cones and a hint of wet soil. Broad, powerful and lightly earthy on the structured, full-bodied palate, with firm but ripe tannins and a long finish."
93 points, James Suckling, jamessuckling.com
"The 2022 Reserve Cabernet Franc was blended with 10% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon and matured for 21 months in 95% new French oak. It’s scented of Luxardo cherries, blackberry preserves, spice cake, pencil shavings and lavender. The full-bodied palate offers concentrated, floral flavors. It’s structured by soft, powdery tannins and fresh acidity and has a long, perfumed finish. 949 cases produced."
93 points, Erin Brooks, The Wine Advocate