Foxen 7200 2021 Cabernet Franc, Tinaquaic Vineyard, Santa Maria Valley

The Foxen 7200 2021 Cabernet Franc greets you like twilight settling over Santa Maria Valley—ripe boysenberry and violet petals rise with a cool hush, then deepen into bittersweet chocolate, sagebrush, and whisper-thin veins of graphite. It’s not a glass that grabs you by the throat; it’s one that holds its breath, asking you to listen.

On the palate, the wine unfolds with deliberate clarity. Fruit isn’t pushed forward—it breathes through tension. Layers of dark cherry and wild herb curl around poised tannins that feel chalky, textured, and anchored. The finish lingers, not through volume, but through shape: vivid, cool, and mindful.

Place writes its own vocabulary here. Tinaquaic Vineyard is one of Foxen’s original sites—dry-farmed, head-trained vines standing in well-drained loam under alternating sun and sea fog. That mix—power and poise, warmth and pull of coast—gives this Cab Franc its push-pull energy, not the gloss of forced ripeness.

Foxen’s intention is clear: texture over torque, vineyard voice over cellar flourish. They lean into vineyard elegance over bold statements. Native yeasts, gentle extraction, and oak that supports rather than dominates give the wine an open, layered architecture—not a performance, but a transmission of place.

This is Cab Franc that understands restraint. It’s for porch dinners, lean cuts grilled with herbs, or solo moments when conversation fades but the wine keeps drawing you deeper.

Foxen 7200 2021 Cabernet Franc—Santa Maria clarity in shadowed fruit and rooted structure.