Girard Winery

This is the third consecutive year that Girard has released a Cabernet Franc. But that string will be interrupted because the winery didn’t think the quality of the fruit from the undisclosed Oakville Crossroad vineyard, from which it’s been purchasing fruit, was up to its standards in 2004.

So, enjoy this ’03. It’s purple in color with feint blueberry and raspberry aromas. The structure is tight right now and not effusive. But one can tell that this is a well-made wine with good fruit and acidity. It’s a wonderful wine with food particularly – I think it would be a perfect foil for a juicy and bloody hanger steak.

Interestingly, this is what I’ll call an Old World/New World wine. That is, winemaker Marco DiGiulio has made it with plenty of distinctive tannins with a good wash of acidity (the Old World part) and with some sweet fruit that could have only come from the Napa Valley (or the New World). Hold onto it for a year to allow it to settle, and then drink it over the ensuing eight years.

The numbers on the wine are thus: It spent two years in French barrels, 40 percent of which were new; the listed alcohol is 14.3 percent, and there were less than 400 cases produced. Additionally, note the use of Malbec – a variety that’s not too abundant in the Napa Valley; and the wine thankfully was neither filtered, nor fined.

Reviewed October 4, 2006 by Alan Goldfarb.