2018 Snowden Melchior Kemper Cabernet Franc

Snowden is east of the Silverado Trail in Napa Valley. The 24-acre estate has been the site of vineyards since the late 19th century and in 1955 it was purchased by Wayne and Virginia Snowden, who grew grapes for local wine producers. In 1981 the couple’s sons, Scott and Randy Snowden, took over the estate and replanted many vineyards. During the 1980s all the grapes went to Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. In 1993 the brothers started producing their own wine under the family name while continuing to sell some of their grapes to local wineries. Today Snowden makes limited amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Petit Verdot.

Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay,

This is a parent grape to Cabernet Sauvignon. It most likely originates from Basque country. It is an excellent blending grape, known for making the exquisite Cheval-Blanc. Franc is a little hardier on a vine than Sauvignon, but drinks smoothly at the table.