2022 Snowden Vineyards "Melchior Kemper Vineyard" Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley, California, USA

ABOUT THIS WINE

The 2022 Melchior Kemper Vineyard Cabernet Franc is an unblended, single-vineyard Cabernet Franc from just 962 vines growing at about 800 feet of elevation on the Snowden estate. These vines have been established on the ranch for more than three decades. Harvested September 7, 2022, the fruit was fermented with wild native yeasts, aged for 17 months in French oak barrels, and bottled in spring 2024; 326 cases were produced. Snowden notes that the 2022 is somewhat richer and more approachable in youth than many vintages. Diana Snowden Seysses describes aromas of blackcurrant, raspberry leaf, and Bing cherry, with blueberry, granite, and raspberry preserve emerging through the palate. At 13% alcohol, it is a distinctive hillside Cabernet Franc shaped by the family’s restrained winemaking and certified-organic estate farming.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

Snowden Vineyards is a family-run estate on the eastern slope of Napa Valley between St. Helena and Rutherford. Wine grapes have grown on the 160-acre property since Levi and Lucretia Davis homesteaded it in 1878, and the Snowden family has farmed the ranch since 1955. Today only 23 acres are planted to vines, while roughly 137 acres remain natural woodland. The estate vineyards are certified organic, reflecting the family’s focus on soil and ecosystem health. Third-generation family member Diana Snowden Seysses has been the winemaker since the 2005 harvest. A UC Davis Viticulture and Enology graduate, she has worked in both California and France and has served as an oenologist at Domaine Dujac in Burgundy since 2003. At Snowden, her approach is deliberately restrained: careful farming, native-yeast fermentations, moderate ripeness, and minimal manipulation are used to keep the character of the hillside vineyards and each vintage at the center of the wines.