2024 ‘The Landed’ Cabernet Franc | Unfiltered

Winemaker: Kelly Mason
Varietals: 100% Cabernet Franc, Clone unknown
Vineyard: Mason Vineyard
Viticultural Appellation: Twenty Mile Bench

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Pick Date : November 2, 2024
pH : 3.81
TA : 5.60
Alcohol : 13.5%
Residual Sugar :  0.36 g/L
Fermentation: Wild Ferment
Ageing: French Oak, Burgundy barrels, 17 months with 10% new oak, 10% second fill, 30% third fill and remainder in neutral oak.

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WINEMAKER JOURNAL: Similar to the Pinot Noir, this wine did all its work in barrel with age. Pleasantly surprised with how it aged, this wine became complex, layered and earthy. A super example as to why Niagara should keep growing Cabernet Franc! It is young right now, and I would encourage you in its early months to decant and if you can, have a glass the next day. As a recap, our goal here at Mason Vineyard, with all our Estate wines, is to show off what our site on the Twenty Mile Bench can do. We are also proud to be part of a larger vineyard community in Niagara that is leading the way for high recognition for cool climate wines.

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NOTES: As usual, we picked in early November. The fruit was destemmed, but not crushed with whole berries straight to tank. After a short cold soak, we fired up the heating jackets and the ferment took off. The wine stayed on skins for a total of 38 days before being pressed off to barrel, just ahead of the Christmas holiday.

This wine is a pure expression of Niagara Bench Cabernet Franc with an amazing texture.

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TASTING NOTES: A bit shy on the nose at the moment giving up subtle but very appealing hints of crushed stone, ripe black fruits and savoury dried herb characters.  On the palate, the wine is dry with fresh but not overbearing acidity, a plush core of ripe fruit and polished tannins providing an almost velvety texture.  The flavours pop with great intensity in the mouth.  Black cherry, black plum, blackberry, elderberry, licorice root, and wild thyme.  There is exquisite balance and refinement on display here.  Super approachable in the short term, but there is plenty of stuffing to carry this wine through some mid-term aging.  Really a strong case for Cabernet Franc as our flagship local red.  Perfect varietal expression with ripe fruit, stony minerality and complex, but not green, herbal character.  

Tasting Notes by Ryan Gibson

PRICE: $60