2019 Crocker & Starr Wines Cabernet Franc Block 7 Premiere Napa Valley St. Helena

There might be no greater luxury than top-tier Napa Valley Cabernet Franc—and we’ll admit, our list of wines that qualify is extremely short. Tres Perlas’s Adonde from To Kalon is up there. Same with Sinegal’s beautiful estate bottling.

But the Cab Franc we have always wanted to offer comes from the winery that revolutionized the variety in Napa Valley: Crocker & Starr, in St. Helena. The 2019 Crocker & Starr Cabernet Franc Block 7 comes from the most iconic, most crucial parcel of Cabernet Franc on their estate—which is why, at this year’s Premiere Napa Valley, we didn’t hesitate to throw down for this absolutely minute lot.

An exclusive release from one of the great Cab Franc producers in the Valley, it’s tough to conceive of a bottling more special than this one. Made especially for Premiere Napa Valley, there are only 60 bottles of this marvelous wine in existence.

In the late 1990s, while she was the winemaker at Spottswoode, Pam Starr followed a soil map that led her to what’s now the Crocker & Starr estate. The property, which had been farmed since the 1870s, had belonged to Charlie Crocker since 1971. Thanks to that serendipitous meeting, Crocker & Starr was born.

The very first wine Crocker & Starr released was their 1997 Cabernet Franc, and it altered the Cab Franc landscape in Napa Valley. Its source was Block 7.

This special bottling represents the absolute crème de la crème from the precious parcel. Aged 22 months in 80% new Taransaud barrels, it’s a pure, precious, luxurious expression from Napa Valley’s most iconic Cabernet Franc producer. It’ll turn heads at the dinner table for decades to come. 

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Acidity
• Tannin

• ABV 14.40%
• 1.5 hours
• Now – 2040
• % Cabernet Franc
• Serving temperature – 60°
• Cork