2022 Broc "KouKou" Cabernet Franc, Santa Barbara County, California, USA

ABOUT THIS WINE

From the Producer: "KouKou is the textbook definition of a Broc red: Organically-grown grapes, fresh acidity, and winemaking that sometimes flouts convention to accentuate a wine’s best qualities. The key to the KouKou is the whole cluster fermentation, an atypical winemaking style when we first harvested Cabernet Franc in 2010. We still make it this way today and love how it captures the grape’s bright and fresh characteristics. This focus on making a refreshing wine is a foundational style we emulate in making all of our red wines – they’re meant to pick you up, never weigh you down. The grapes were harvested from Santa Ynez Vineyard just outside of Santa Barbara in Happy Canyon. After harvest, the Cabernet Franc underwent carbonic, whole cluster fermentation in stainless steel tank, before being pressed and aged in neutral barrique for nine months. Ready to drink now or briefly age. Enjoy this vintage on the cooler side of cellar temperature."

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

Chris Brockway came to call Berkeley home (for his cellar anyways) by way of Omaha, Nebraska, where he was born and raised, Seattle, and finally Los Angeles, with a couple short stops in between. After graduating from the University of Nebraska, he began working in restaurants around the city before decamping to the Pacific Northwest, where he ultimately became interested in wine. After a friend joked that he should learn how to actually make it, he packed his things and enrolled in winemaking courses at UC Davis. He finished his studies and quickly landed a job at JC Cellars, by all means a conventional winery. At the same time he began to frequent Terroir, San Francisco’s first natural wine bar, and began to think a lot about experimenting with the wines he liked to drink. And so, with a few small experiments, Broc Cellars was born.