Numbers Aren't Generally Sexy...

The future of the Livermore Valley is being written now

Numbers aren’t generally sexy. But the trend of Cab Franc plantings in the Livermore Valley over the last 15 years are va-va-va-voom.

Despite its fundamental viticultural importance, the Livermore Valley has long been invisible in the larger world of California wine. My thesis has been that — unlike most of the great wine regions of the world — the Livermore Valley never tried to make a connective identification to a grape (or a small number of them).

It is my goal to make sure this decision is met with yawns 20 years from now…a duh from the assembled wine writers, restrauteurs, wine ship owners, and consumers, new-ish to Livermore wines, who treat our hegemony in Cab Franc production as one of those “hasn’t it always been thus?” shrugs.

Claiming that we grow everything well does not a marketing slogan make. But up until the last couple of years, that has been the position of the producers here. A couple of years ago, however, the earnest push-back began. With the advent of CabFranc-A-Palooza, and the constant refrain of What about Cab Franc? in every possible forum, the Livermore Valley Wine Community recently voted to name Cab Franc and Sauvignon Blanc as the featured varieties of our appellation.