Palazzo, Napa Valley (California) Cabernet Franc 2019

 If you are in the market for a big, serious red from Napa that will give you a bit of a shift in flavor profile from Cabernet Sauvignon, this is the ticket.  By contrast, if you’re looking for a Cabernet Franc that’s a slightly amped-up California take on Chinon from France’s Loire Valley, this will likely be more than you bargained for, as the step up in wattage and weight is very considerable indeed.  Quite deeply pigmented, with fully ripe aromas that show just a whiff of Franc leafiness, this hits the palate with formidable density and depth of flavor.  There’s enough wood to hang in with the concentrated fruit, but not so much that it over-rides the black-toned fruit flavors, which predominate through the plush finish without yielding to the tannins, which are well measured.  It is fair to ask whether this sufficiently “varietally correct” to earn such a high score, but I put no stock in that as a scoring criterion, as it makes no sense to hold all the world’s Cabernet Francs to a standard set in any one place.  In sum, this is a delicious, age-worthy, highly impressive powerhouse – judged here on its own merits.