2018 The Debate Sleeping Lady Vineyard Cabernet Franc

The Debate is a relatively recent winemaking venture from Rob McKay, a businessman, investor and influential political donor with a longtime passion for California wine. McKay brought on noted winemaker Jean Hoefliger as consulting winemaker. The estate sources grapes from some of Napa Valley’s premier vineyards, including To Kalon, Dr. Crane and Beckstoffer Missouri-Hopper. The Debate makes three Cabernet Sauvignons which have impressed reviewers. Robert M. Parker Jr. has given the wines rating up to 100 pts, and notes that “Bigger than life Jean Hoefliger is the winemaking guru behind these wines. He has partnered with Rob McKay, and they obviously have access to some incredibly great vineyards in Napa in order to produce such world-class wines. Three of the five wines I tasted came from 100% Beckstoffer-owned vineyards, and that generally means amazing materials.”

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.