Believed to be the parent of the ultra-popular Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc is often overshadowed by its own progeny. However, this underrated grape produces some wildly complex, food-friendly wines that deserve your attention.
Wines made from Cab Franc range from light and quaffable to rich and tannic depending on both region and winemaking styles. Cool-climate examples from the Loire Valley, Finger Lakes, or Long Island can be lively and fresh with tart red fruit, spicy green pepper notes, and crisp acidity. They can be aged in stainless steel for a more punchy expression or in oak barrels to add hints of cedar and tobacco. Cabernet Francs from warmer sites like Napa Valley and Paso Robles can result in bigger wines with juicy, ripe fruit, and typically a heavier oak influence.
Whether you’re partial to the refreshing and chillable versions or the deep, fuller-bodied bottles, we have you covered. We tasted wines across the spectrum and compiled a list of the top bottles for you to seek out. From the banks of the Loire River to the rolling hills of Virginia, here are the 15 best Cabernet Francs for 2024.
Table Of Contents
Best Cabernet Francs Under $25
Best Cabernet Francs Under $50
Best Cabernet Francs Over $50
FAQs
Best Cabernet Francs Under $25
Lamoreaux Landing T23 Unoaked Cabernet Franc 2022
This unoaked bottling showcases the freshness that cool-climate Finger Lakes Cab Franc can offer. The wine opens with bright red fruit notes like tart cranberry, cherry, and raspberry. The palate offers added hints of earth and spice. It’s juicy and medium-bodied with refreshing acidity, but still has a significant tannic structure, making it great with a meal.
Average price: $20
Rating: 89
Heron Hill Winery Classic Cabernet Franc 2020
Another great bottle from the Finger Lakes, this Cabernet Franc is made with fruit sourced from vineyard sites across three different lakes: Seneca Lake, Cayuga Lake, and the smaller Canandaigua Lake. The wine is filled with red fruit and spices across the nose and the palate with notes of red plum, strawberries, raspberries, cinnamon, and clove.
Average price: $22
Rating: 89
Domaine Filliatreau La Grande Vignolle Saumur-Champigny 2020
Saumur-Champigny in the central Loire Valley is known for its distinct tuffeau soils that lead to savory and complex expressions of Cabernet Franc. This bottle comes from Domaine Filliatreau’s most esteemed vineyard site in the region, La Grande Vignolle, which sits atop a tuffeau stone outcrop that runs along the Loire River. The result is an intense yet elegant wine with notes of black raspberry, cedar, and dried herbs on the nose. The palate is rich with juicy cherries, blueberries, and hints of smoke. A wonderful expression of this region for a great value.
Average price: $22
Rating: 93
Raats Family Wines Dolomite Cabernet Franc 2021
This Cabernet Franc comes from vineyards planted on cooler, southern-facing slopes in South Africa’s Stellenbosch region. It’s named for the decomposed dolomite granite soils on the site, which lend a great acidity and freshness to the final product. More savory than fruity, this wine opens with spice, green peppers, and herbs on the nose. The palate offers some hints of chocolate-covered cherries and dried chili peppers that linger on the finish.
Average price: $23
Rating: 91
Blenheim Vineyards Cabernet Franc 2022
This Cabernet Franc from Virginia’s Monticello AVA is aged for eight months in a combination of French, Hungarian, and American oak barrels. The result is a wine with fresh red fruit notes of raspberries and cranberries with hints of tobacco and dried herbs.
Average price: $24
Rating: 90
Best Cabernet Francs Under $50
Field Recordings Franc 2023
Cabernet Franc can produce tannic, savory wines, but it can also make quaffable reds full of vibrant, juicy fruit. This bottle from Paso Robles is definitely on the more fruit-forward side, bursting with black raspberries and cherries. Barely-there tannins and bright acidity make this a great easy-drinking red.
Average price: $25
Rating: 90
Olga Raffault Chinon Les Barnabés 2021
The Olga Raffault estate has been producing traditional wines in Chinon for five generations. The domain’s Les Barnabés bottling is from the Savigny-en-Véron subregion, influenced by both the alluvial soils of the Loire River and the gravel soils of the Vienne. While some Chinon wines are built to age, this fresh wine is meant to be enjoyed young. It’s full of spicy red fruit with notes of strawberry tops, Christmas cranberries, and dried herbs.
Average price: $25
Rating: 93
Macari Lifeforce Cabernet Franc 2022
Macari is a leader in regenerative agriculture on Long Island, farming sustainably since the first vines were planted in 1995. This Cabernet Franc, aged in concrete eggs for 10 months, is a wonderful expression of the variety’s savory side. It jumps out of the glass with crunchy jalapeño on the nose, while the palate brings blackberry, cranberry, and plum notes with some lingering spice.
Average price: $30
Rating: 90
Brendan Stater-West Saumur Rouge 2021
Brendan Stater-West is a young winemaker based in Saumur. He apprenticed at the renowned Domaine Guiberteau before starting his own label in 2015, and the experience clearly comes through in his terroir-driven wines. This Cab Franc comes from the La Ripaille lieu-dit in Brézé, with southwest-facing slopes and sandy-clay soil, and is aged in stainless steel tanks for six months. The result is a wonderfully fresh wine with great complexity. It’s savory on the nose with notes of red and green peppers and dried herbs. The palate offers black raspberry notes with flecks of cedar and spice.
Average price: $32
Rating: 94
Le Batossay Al’Cab’Erné Cabernet Franc 2023
It’s hard to talk about the Loire Valley without mentioning the region’s role in the natural wine movement. And this Cabernet Franc is definitely for the natural wine lover. Winemaker Baptiste Cousin organically farms 11 acres of land (owned by his father, Olivier Cousin), and this Cab Franc comes from a biodynamically farmed vineyard planted by Olivier in 2002 on clay and limestone soils. It’s made with carbonic maceration, aged in neutral oak for 12 months, and is bottled unfined and unfiltered. In the glass, it’s lively with crunchy red fruit notes and earthy hints of pine needle and dried leaves. Definitely one to throw in the fridge and enjoy with a slight chill.
Average price: $33
Rating: 90
Bedell Cellars Cabernet Franc 2022
This bottle from the North Fork of Long Island is the epitome of an easy-drinking medium-bodied red. It’s fruit-forward on the nose and palate with notes of raspberries, black cherry, and rhubarb. Some time in neutral oak adds touches of vanilla, earth, and tobacco on the palate, without overpowering the wine. Crisp acidity lifts the fruit on the palate and keeps it refreshing.
Average price: $38
Rating: 91
Outward Wines Massa Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2023
Outward sources grapes from across California’s Central Coast, making varietal wines that display the area’s cooler sites. The grapes for this wine are sourced from the Massa Vineyard, a site that reaches 1,500 feet in elevation in the remote highlands of Carmel Valley. This Cab Franc is definitely for the pyrazine lover — aromas of freshly cut jalapeño, cilantro, and tomato leaf are so ample you might start to wonder if you’re smelling salsa (in a good way). The palate is balanced between the savory, spicy notes and tart red fruit flavors of cranberries and strawberries. It finishes with high acidity, making this a refreshing, easy-drinking wine.
Average price: $38
Rating: 92
Hermann J. Wiemer Magdalena Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2022
Coming from a small two-and-a-half acre vineyard on the edge of Seneca Lake, this site-specific wine displays the elegance of Finger Lakes Cab Franc. The wine has a mix of tart and ripe fruit, with juicy cherries and cranberry notes accented by hints of cedar, tobacco leaf, and smoke from time aging in a mix of Hungarian and French oak. Bold tannins suggest this one should be enjoyed with food or could evolve well after a few years of aging.
Average price: $45
Rating: 92
Best Cabernet Francs Over $50
Clau de Nell Anjou Cabernet Franc 2020
This biodynamic Cabernet Franc comes from yet another esteemed region in France’s Loire Valley, Anjou. It showcases Cab Franc’s earthy side with cedar, dried leaves, and herbs on the nose. The medium-bodied wine shows notes of red plums and raspberries on the palate with fine tannins. When the crisp breezes and crunchy leaves of autumn start to appear, this is the wine you want to reach for.
Average price: $52
Rating: 92
Cakebread Cellars Napa Valley Cabernet Franc 2021
This is the Cabernet Franc for the Napa wine lover. Aged for 17 months in 57 percent new French oak and 43 percent neutral French oak, it packs a serious punch. It’s rich and expressive with notes of ripe plums, blueberries, vanilla, and baking spices. The fruit is supported by balancing acidity and grippy tannins.
Average price: $75
Rating: 90
FAQs
Where does Cabernet Franc come from?
It’s believed that Cabernet Franc first originated in the southwestern region of France near the Basque country close to Bordeaux. The variety can still be found in Bordeaux blends, and is considered to be a parent of the more popular Cabernet Sauvignon.
What regions make the best Cabernet Franc?
Cabernet Franc can be found in several regions throughout France, including in Bordeaux blends, but is most famous for its role in the Loire Valley. It is the primary red grape in wines from esteemed appellations like Chinon, Saumur, Saumur-Champigny, Bourgueil, Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil, and Anjou. Outside of France, Cabernet Franc can be found in small quantities in Italy, Hungary, Australia, South Africa, South America, and across the United States. Though there are some great expressions from California, Cabernet Franc is one of the more popular varieties on the East Coast, with great bottles coming from the Finger Lakes, Long Island, and Virginia.
What does Cabernet Franc taste like?
Cabernet Franc is typically a medium-bodied red wine, though it can be made in more ripe and extracted styles, or lighter, chillable styles. It can have red fruit notes of raspberries, strawberries, and plums with some darker fruit notes. Cabernet Franc is also known for its abundant pyrazines, a compound that can come across as a savory vegetal note, lending to aromas of green pepper, jalapeño, or dried herbs. Cabernet Franc also has bright acidity and firm tannins.
VinePair’s Tasting Methodology
Throughout the year, VinePair conducts numerous tastings for our popular Buy This Booze column, and wine and spirits reviews. Our mission is to provide a clear, reliable source of information for drinkers, providing an overview applicable to day-to-day buying and drinking.
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*Image retrieved from Aleksandrs Muiznieks via stock.adobe.com
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