Robert Sinskey Vineyards

Franc Persuasion...
Honest talk in disingenuous times!

Franc (Old French): “free, genuine, sincere”

As our fearful leader closes in on completing his first term in office, we take note that one of his major achievements has been to dismantle the effectiveness of the Environmental Protection Agency. Ironically, an agency created by none other than Richard Nixon - a fact that only amplifies our digression from the path of environmental protection started in the 1970’s. It is hard to believe there was a time when the Republican party believed that protecting our environment was consistent with conservative values.

Now, for the record, I do not believe in one party over the other. Both parties have made contributions and both have made major mistakes… but what happened to common sense?

Spending my early years in SoCal in the 60’s was a mixed blessing. You had a health conscious society, yet that society was exposed to some of the most toxic air in the world. I remember “smog alert” days when my eyes and lungs would burn, triggering asthma and forcing thousands of people indoors on days that otherwise would have been ideal to spend at the park or the beach. The content of those toxic airborne events included lead (one of my many excuses for not being able to remember anything) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In response, laws were created and enforced by the EPA to force automobile producers to create cleaner burning cars that achieved higher gas mileage. Cars had to be redesigned, not only to burn lead-free gasoline but to be smaller and lighter. The early results were pitiful (remember the Pinto, Maverick and Vega?) and lobbyists claimed we were destroying our automobile manufacturers through our restrictive laws. Then the Japanese, Germans, Swedes, and even the Italians, saw opportunity and started making cars we wanted to drive - cars that were more efficient, fun and reliable than anything that came before. It took years for the American auto industry to catch up but, through the application of science and engineering, we are now producing some of the best automobiles in history… and the air in LA has seen the VOCs decline by an astonishing 98% while the burning of fossil fuels have increased threefold. Yet our president, ignoring the facts, wants to reduce mileage quotas to help the auto industry.

Tradition in wine is one thing. It is cool to look into the past in order to understand how wine was made historically. However, it is not so cool to look backward when it comes to technology. By its very nature, it demands we look forward to solve our problems. We need to dream, we need to aspire and we need to make seemingly out of reach goals a reality.

Dust

Dust follows me everywhere. During the summer it sifts in through the screen door and settles on every surface in the house. It’s one of the joys of living in the middle of a vineyard. But dust can be a good thing in a very particular way. One of the most intriguing aromas of RSV’s Vandal Vineyard Cabernet Franc is a dusty minerality that is born by the grapes of that singular vineyard. This dustiness is checked by a beautiful perfume of violets and cocoa powder. These aromas are benchmarks for a well-grown and well-crafted Cabernet Franc. The Taragna plays off the dust and touch of earth nicely. The slight bitterness of the buckwheat tends to smooth the tannins of this nascent wine and makes the fruit explode. A perfect dish and wine for a rain-soaked day kissed by a cool breath of wind.

Until the Next Wine....
Maria

EAT: Taragna with Green Garlic

Early, excellent, shaken and shredded. We’d been picking for less than a week when the South Napa Quake hit. The epicenter was just a mile south of The Three Amigos Vineyard with the fault running north through RSV’s OSR and Vandal Vineyards. Things were knocked about and some vines were lost due to cracking along the fault line, but we fared much better than some.

The 2014 vintage was one of the driest on record with rainfall half of normal. The vintage was saved by the reservoir-filling rains that came in late February and early March. Overall, the growing season was amenable and tracking early until a freak hail storm shredded the canopies of the Cabernet Franc vines and slowed down the ripening cycle. The fruit came through relatively unscathed and the extra hang time might have actually helped.

The third year of drought created wines of beauty, depth and concentration.The Cabernet Franc was quintessentially ripe with hints of dried herb and marvelous dark red fruits. The 2014’s are structured wines with balanced acidity and firm tannins - perfect for the cellar or for the table.