What Does White Cabernet Franc Mean?

Maybe it's a thing...

There’s a house here on Livermore Avenue that I pass by on my daily walk whose front yard is full of all kinds of little figurines, and old metal placards, and some creatures made from discarded machine parts.

It was really hot today, and I don’t if was the whimsical nature of the junk in the yard or a craving for something really cold to drink, but I spent the rest of the walk fixating on white wine.

The structural element list above requires a deft hand and experience in the vineyard to get right. Pick too late - lose acid, pick to early - green takes the place of fresh fruit flavor. Deftness is especially important if you are trying to make white wine from red grapes.

At their best, wines reflect their origin, their season, a winemaking philosophy, and a reason for being. I’d venture to say that the most popular wines on any big box store shelf check nary a box, except — perhaps — for the little frisson that the alcohol brings.

Though white wines generally make it to the market sooner than reds, and are more cost-effective because of that, they can be very tricky to make well. My quintessential white is wood-less, acid-full, low in alcohol, crispy, aromatic…a wine whose berries came off the vine only a few months prior.

The structural element list above requires a deft hand and experience in the vineyard to get right. Pick too late - lose acid, pick to early - green takes the place of fresh fruit flavor. Deftness is especially important if you are trying to make white wine from red grapes.

Steven Kent Winery’s Cabernet Franc Blanc is one of those wines. Our first vintage was 2022 and we made only about 80 cases as an experiment. We were overjoyed with the result. Not only did very careful pressing and 50+ days of cold fermentation yield a crystal clear, completely dry white wine, but its flavors and textures were wholly new — unusual and delicious, and it sold out quickly. This past vintage we made about 2.5 times as much wine as in 2022, and it is also rapidly selling out. I’m not sure what this wine means.