Franciscan Winery

Hello my friends...

Remember I promised to talk a little more about my trip to Napa? Well... in this post I will tell you about Franciscan. It's a winery founded more than 30 years ago.

I first heard about Franciscan from a coworker and friend who shares passion for wine, and told me about a great wine he enjoyed with his wife. I immediately told my husband and we took note about it and when the trip to Napa was a reality, we included this winery on the list.

Personnel was really friendly and we discovered Franciscan has signature as well as limited release wines of different grapes. They also have "winery only" wines which you could tell by the description, that you can only taste and obtain if you visit the winery.

We had the opportunity to taste wines from Mount Veeder Winery.... But... we were at Franciscan!!! What happened? Well... it's a winery also owned by Franciscan. We chose the tasting called "wines with altitude". Mount Veeder elaborates wines from a specific soil from this mountain, meaning high. Higher soils provoke the grapes to develop thicker skin when try to protect from higher temperatures or the sun. This then makes the grapes to have more tannins... also more sugar and therefore more alcohol.

We tried Rosenquist Vineyard 2007 which was 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, or Cab as we call it. Strong, and fruity at the same time... Very robust and perfect to pair with meat or even to enjoy by itself.

We also tasted Elevation 1550 2008, which was a blend, mainly Cab. (Note that a wine blend is usually described by the grape with 85% or more part in the mix. Sometimes we call a wine a Cab - Cabernet Sauvignon- but it really has Cab, Merlot, Cab Franc, and others in the blend... depending on the flavors and combinations the wine maker desires.)

Another blend we tasted was the Reserve 2006.

All wines were spectacular... but our favorite was the Rosenquist 2007... and the one we brought home.

We took a picture beside the landmark fountain at the entrance of the winery (Franciscan even has a wine called Fountain Court and it is to honor this fountain).

Needless to say, my husband was very happy with the visit to Franciscan... you can tell in this picture below... LOL!!!!