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!!!!

Finally 2009

Finally... we are now seeing wines from 2009 vintage. At least we had not seen any yet in Puerto Rico... and we were waiting for them...

2009 is being described as an excellent year in Spain... referring to grapes' harvest. So, I finally tasted a 2009 wine and it is one we've tried before from other years so we were able to compare.

La Planta is from Arzuaga Navarro winery. Not many people know that "La Planta" is the "cosecha" wine from the "Arzuaga" line of wines in "crianza", "reserva" and "gran reserva". Wines usually have the same name no matter the aging, but in this case they use "La Planta" name for the first wine to be bottled and then the rest are named Arzuaga.

"Cosechas" are usually not aged in oak or anything, it is bottled and good to go... but this one has some oak in the process of 6 months.

About the 2009 vintage, the winery claims it "has been the most complete with high quality grapes provided with very good sensory qualities." All I can say is that I was not dissapointed at all. This wine was exquisite.

It has intense cherry red color and great aromas of fruit... As I always say, I am no expert, but this wine is one that has never failed to me ... year by year... and this 2009 seems to be stronger and way more balanced.

I regularly do not like tempranillo by itself without pairing with food. But this is an exception. This wine is 100% tempranillo and it is very enjoyable with or without food.

If you are looking for some wine to start your weekend.. have this delicious red wine that is just out to the market... get La Planta 2009. And don't storage for long time... enjoy it.

(photo from decantalo.com)