At Ventana, we use small amounts of Cabernet Franc from our vineyard to add spice components to other red wines. Every few years however, the grapes from this varietal are stunning. Doug Meador chose to make a red wine completely from Cabernet Franc; the result is a lovely rich wine.

As with all of Ventana's red wines, our grapes are handpicked at exact ripeness which sometimes requires two to three passes on separate days through the vineyard. The grapes are then immediately de-stemmed and placed in open-top fermentors for about two weeks or until fermentation stops. During this time the grapes are hand-punched for optimum contact between the skins and the juice. The solids are left to rest and the juice is pumped off into a mix of French and American Oak for a minimum of eighteen months barrel aging.