The 2016 Wait Cellars Russian River Cabernet Franc is made from 100% hand-picked and hand-sorted fruit from the Los Amigos Vineyard. Los Amigos sits south of Healdsburg, California and east of highway 101 where the western benchlands of the Mayacamas range flatten out, a relatively warmer area of Sonoma County where the Russian River Valley and the Chalk Hill appellations overlap.

2016 was a warm, even growing year at Los Amigos after a wet, cool winter — a respite from four straight years of drought on the North Coast.  Picked at 23 brix, the whole clusters underwent an 11-day, sealed carbonic maceration. Our goals were to soften tannins and alcohol naturally while bringing forward scrumptious black and red fruit flavors.  After 11 days the grapes were unsealed and treaded by foot. Native yeast conducted the remainder of the primary fermentation, and the wine was pressed into neutral oak barrels. The wine remained in barrel sur lie, occasionally stirred, until racked in early spring and bottled unfiltered in summer.