2017 Detert Family Vineyards Cabernet Franc East Block Oakville

Community Tasting Notes (4) Avg Score: 94.3 points

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  8/28/2022 - 5laton wrote:

  A singleton opened for research purposes. Very simple but pure ripe purple-black fruit with a bit of earth and no obvious sweetness. Palate-coating, with intense but very fine and nearly soft tannins that remind me a bit of a more polished, modern style of Barolo. To my surprise there's something of a weightless quality here; I typically find valley floor wines heavy. Sadly I didn't get the pyrazine notes mentioned by other tasters, and with air the structure came forward a bit. A curious wine that may challenge my sense of quality.
  Consistent when retasted from Boston round a few days later, but with the oak more upfront.

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  1/21/2022 - Rbhan12 Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Soul-searching in Napa. Beta-Jasud, Roy Piper, Detert, Elyse, Diamond Creek, Favia, Opus, Gargiulo, among others!; 1/17/2022-1/22/2022: Tasted with Tom at Dakota Shy. Wasn't able to take detailed notes.
  
  Doing my best from memory, but I remember taking a sip and immediately laughing. I couldn't believe how good this wine was. Compared with the 16 and 08 regular Francs next to it, this was clearly more nuanced. Lots of earthy structure but still had so much dark fruit. I was somewhat reminded of a beautifully grilled bell pepper that had turned savory and sweet. Serious wine and structure here (as is the case with all of Detert's wines).
  
  Surprisingly good now with air, but easily can last 15+ years in the cellar.

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  6/29/2020 - Cailles wrote: 94 Points

  Mostly Napa Valley 2017s (with 15/16/18 in the mix): Larger merchant tasting. Brief impressions. This was one of the best 2017s with a broad array of aromas on the nose and palate with lots of dark and red fruit, coffee, herbs, burnt sugar and herbal notes. Good intensity and definition, like all 2017 not too dense and thick, not too ripe but rather on the light side of things. Fine tannins, good acidity. A pleasant, early drinking vintage and wine.

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  5/13/2020 - sirpat00 wrote: 94 Points

  Putzi's Napa 2017 new arrival tasting: A new Napa arrival tasting hosted by a wine merchant. A total of 30 wines mostly from 2017 (with a few 2018 whites and new releases from 2016 and 2015 in the mix) were presented in various price brackets ($40 to $200+). For 2017 my takeaways were 1) 2017 is already approachable and offers immediate drinking pleasure. But 2) the wines also came across lighter and less layered. 2017 doesn’t seem to have the refinement of 2016, the depth of 2014 or the muscular concentration of 2015. For many, it seems, finding a spot in the sun will be hard with 5 outstanding vintages before and likely 2 more (at least) right behind. There were notable exceptions of course. Wine of the night was Diamond Creek Volcanic Hill 2017 (95) and just whisker behind Viader 2017 (95). A very notable mention deserves the Detert East Block Cabernet Franc 2017 for its unique character (94).
  
  Tasting note:
  Roasted coffee, black tee, some cedar and tobacco are more in the limelight than the red to blue type of berry fruit. Fine-grained and elegant, nice an harmonious on the palate with a distinct character. Definitely one of the more interesting juices tasted at this event.

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