Allora Vineyards
St. Helena Cabernet Franc
St. Helena, Napa Valley, California, USA
One of the bottles we brought back from our annual Napa trip in Sept of 2021. We try to visit 1-2 small/off the radar wineries during our visit, and this was a recommended stop by one of the wineries we were visiting. Off the beaten path outside of St Helena, behind Ehlers. Alycia Mondavi makes the wines for this very small family operation. All winemaking takes place at the family home on a beautiful secluded property. Luckily for me, they are known for their cab franc.
My score here is based on potential…this is probably closer to a 90-91 today. Compared to the 2012 I had a few months back where the main note was raspberry fig, this was a bit unyielding, even after a 3hr double decant and revisiting the next day. This is undeniably CabFranc in its fruit profile…lots of brambly red and black fruit like black cherries and dark plum with espresso and a hint of potpourri on the nose. The palate was a bit like a bull in a China shop as it was all over the place and quite gripping on the finish (unlike the 2012). Lots of dark, chalky notes with sweet pipe tobacco leaf wrapped berry fig. I’d leave this alone for 3-5yrs at least unless you can give it an extremely long decant.
One of the bottles we brought back from our annual Napa trip in Sept of 2021. We try to visit 1-2 small/off the radar wineries during our visit, and this was a recommended stop by one of the wineries we were visiting. Off the beaten path outside of St Helena, behind Ehlers. Alycia Mondavi makes the wines for this very small family operation. All winemaking takes place at the family home on a beautiful secluded property. Luckily for me, they are known for their cab franc.
My score here is based on potential…this is probably closer to a 90-91 today. Compared to the 2012 I had a few months back where the main note was raspberry fig, this was a bit unyielding, even after a 3hr double decant and revisiting the next day. This is undeniably CabFranc in its fruit profile…lots of brambly red and black fruit like black cherries and dark plum with espresso and a hint of potpourri on the nose. The palate was a bit like a bull in a China shop as it was all over the place and quite gripping on the finish (unlike the 2012). Lots of dark, chalky notes with sweet pipe tobacco leaf wrapped berry fig. I’d leave this alone for 3-5yrs at least unless you can give it an extremely long decant.
