Cabernet Franc
⏳ Drinking Window
2022 - 2027
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
roasted duck, grilled lamb chops, portobello mushroom burgers
✨ Technical Specifications
While Dominion Tantara is highly celebrated for its elegant Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays, their limited-production Cabernet Franc highlights the incredible climatic diversity of Santa Barbara County. Sourced from select warmer microclimates within the region, such as the Santa Ynez Valley, this wine benefit from warm daytime temperatures and cool, marine-influenced nights. This diurnal shift allows the Cabernet Franc grapes to achieve optimal phenolic ripeness while preserving their natural acidity. Crafted using traditional French winemaking techniques, the wine showcases a sophisticated balance of ripe red fruit, signature herbaceous notes of sage and bell pepper, and a refined mineral backbone, reflecting the winery's commitment to site-specific, low-intervention expressions.
🍾 About the Producer
Founded in 1997 in California's cool-climate Santa Barbara County, Dominion Tantara is an artisan producer renowned for its site-specific Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Sourcing fruit from celebrated Central Coast terroirs such as Bentrock, Dierberg, and La Encantada vineyards, the winery emphasizes low-intervention, Burgundian-inspired winemaking techniques that showcase the purity of each vintage. Its cellar regime prioritizes indigenous fermentations, gentle handling, and judicious use of French oak to produce focused, elegant wines of remarkable depth and ageability. In addition to its acclaimed single-vineyard and reserve Pinot Noirs, Dominion Tantara crafts refined, small-lot expressions of Chardonnay, Syrah, and Cabernet Franc.
🍇 Grape Varieties
Cabernet Franc