Lot 559
2023 Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Franc

$200/bottle under the original label

Lot 559 is a 100% Cabernet Franc from a legendary winery near its upper elevations. Opulent and tremendously ageable, it was built with absolute top-end inputs by a consulting winemaker with multiple 100-point scores under his belt. Single-vineyard, block-select, hand-farmed, and meticulously crafted, this wine is currently wrapped in a massive jacket of French oak. Surely the only thing that will age better than this deal is the wine itself.

A benchmark for Cabernet Franc and masterful cooperage, the wine opens with heady, complex aromas of dense chocolate, cherries, sweet tobacco, black tea, and blackberry coulis. The palate is resolutely youthful and structured, brimming with firm tannins and barrel character, possessing pronounced acidity and a brooding core of dry, dark fruit waiting to unwind slowly with extended bottle age. A barrel-driven finish reveals violets and a dark fruit umami that lingers with near-infinite persistence. Decant for 24 hours if you plan to drink any in the near term, but this is best laid down over the next decade or more to witness its full arc and evolution.