Hickinbotham The Nest Cabernet Franc 2021

Cabernet Franc has the capacity to delight, enchant, and bewitch, however it so often is overlooked as a blending grape or it sits quietly in the shadow of its better known relations. The Nest ticks all of the above boxes, and it is a joy to find such a well-cared for iteration of the variety, placing Cab Franc front and centre instead of as an afterthought. This is a fuller bodied Cabernet Franc, dark and brooding. A woodland fairy-tale of a nose with briar rose, black rounded fruits, a summery floral prettiness, with an undercurrent of autumnal decay – a wine of contradictions. Succulence and youth framed with gnarly earthy notes that speak of age. A hint of fresh growth and the malleability of youth, paired with the slight decay of bushland underbrush. Resin, dark chocolate and spice, oak has stamped it’s signet ring on the wine. Freshness and complexity. Tannins are well-defined, the structure is firm and provides an ageworthy frame on which the fruit hangs before a slight bitter radicchio note on the finish.