(June 17, 2019; Calistoga, Calif.) — As Napa Valley prepares for another busy summer tourist season, many wine enthusiasts are still asking about the quality of the 2017 vintage following the destructive Northern California wildfires and the possible effects of smoke taint. Today, Rich and Leslie Frank, owners of Frank Family Vineyards announced publicly that their winery did not bottle any wine made from grapes harvested after the Atlas and Tubbs fires which started on October 8, 2017.
“We have worked for 25 years to build our brand, and we are not willing to put our reputation, or that of any of our distributor and retail partners at risk with suspect bottles. Rest assured, not a single grape picked after the fires has gone into a single Frank Family bottle,” says Leslie Frank.
“We had the chance to connect with collectors from all over the world at the recent Auction Napa Valley. We discovered in doing so that there continues to be a concern about the 2017 vintage with our clientele, which is why we are making this announcement. I know many other wineries have made the same difficult decision as we have,” adds Rich Frank.
Thousands of gallons of potentially compromised wine, about half of Frank Family’s 2017 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon production, was sold off in bulk.
“2017 was an incredible growing season and harvest, up until the fires started. Fortunately, we had already picked our estate vineyards, so our reserve wines were not affected at all. The fruit that had already been picked is some of the best of the decade. We were able to bottle approximately 17,000 cases of the 2017 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from fruit picked before October 8th,” says winemaker and GM Todd Graff.
In addition, Graff says Mother Nature blessed Napa Valley with an abundant and stellar crop in 2018 that will guarantee there is no shortage of Cabernet Sauvignon, or gap in distribution of Frank Family wine. Critics are already hailing the 2018 vintage as outstanding.
Frank Family’s Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($60) consistently ranks as one of the country’s most popular bottlings in Wine & Spirits Magazine Annual Restaurant Poll.
About Frank Family Vineyards:
Frank Family Vineyards was founded in 1992 by former Disney Studios president, Rich Frank. First constructed as the Historic Larkmead Winery in 1884, the stone building on property is the third oldest in Napa and appears on the National Register of Historical Places. Frank Family first opened its tasting room doors in July of 1993. Today, Frank Family owns over 380 acres of vineyards in the Napa Valley, and in 2015 received Napa Green certifications for both land and winery. Winemaker Todd Graff makes a wide variety of estate-driven wines, including four different methode champenoise sparkling wines, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Late Harvest Chardonnay and a Zinfandel Port-style wine. Frank Family’s reputation for having the friendliest hospitality in Napa Valley has fans flocking to the tasting room on Larkmead Lane, which has been named “Best Napa Winery” by the Bay Area A-List for an unprecedented eight years in a row, making it one of the most popular tasting rooms in wine country. The tasting room was recently redesigned by Erin Martin and now offers tastings in multiple rooms, including a gorgeous heated and covered patio. Frank Family’s tasting room is open daily to the public from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Reservations are strongly recommended. Tastings of Sparkling and Reserve wines are $50. The “Elevated Experience” tasting features five limited-production reserve wines with a curated selection of artisanal cheese and charcuterie from the new Yountville café and market, Ottimo. The tasting is offered at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. daily for groups of up to eight people per seating ($90). The new Winston Hill Tasting offers a deep-dive into limited production Cabernet Sauvignon bottlings from Rich and Leslie’s Rutherford hillside estate ($70.)
For more information about Frank Family Vineyards, visit www.frankfamilyvineyards.com.
