Vintage: 2025
Tasting notes: This is Franc in its element - bright, fragrant and sauvage. Raspberry, violet and bay leaf on the nose, with leafy spice and dark forest fruits on the palate. It’s medium-bodied, savoury and fresh, with gentle supporting tannins and just the right amount of freshness and acidity to make it work brilliantly at a cool cellar temperature.
Winemaker’s notes: This is the fifth time we’ve worked with fruit from this little block, 15km south of Mount Barker. It’s a small planting of Cab Franc tucked out in the bush - one of those sites that flies under the radar, but quietly delivers the goods. Picked on the edge of ripeness to keep it savoury and energetic, fruit was destemmed, fermented wild in open-top fermenters with minimal intervention - just a few lazy plunges now and then. The wine was left on lees in seasoned French barriques for around six months, before blending and bottling with minimal sulphites. Alcohol 13%
Reviews:
2025: “Davies and Snook included this wine in their top six wines from the blind tasting. Davies described it as “leaning confidently into a fruit-forward style, with macerated strawberries and blueberries sitting front and centre, layered over allspice and a heady floral lift of peony and iris. Blackcurrant-leaf freshness cuts cleanly through all this prettiness, and after a few more swirls around the glass, a faint mealy note comes through. The palate, whilst medium-bodied, carries a surprisingly weighted texture and a silky level of glycerol. A full spectrum of red and black berries plays out, kept in check by a taut plum-skin acidity that washes across the palate. That signature blackcurrant leaf note returns, with a grounding counterpoint of black olive bringing balance. It’s pretty generous, in a drink-now style that leans into its fruit, but it keeps enough savoury detail and structure to stay engaging.” Snook noted that “blackberry and blackcurrant drive the nose, framed by violet florals and cocoa spice, while shiso leaf lends a savoury bitterness that adds intrigue. The palate stays bright and crunchy, alive with primary fruit and fresh acidity that gives shape and swagger in equal measure. Vibrant and dangerously drinkable, this is cabernet franc with charm, tension and plenty of personality.”
Young Gun DEEP DIVE Tasting: Australia’s Best Cabernet Franc
2023: “The 2023 Fric Frac has a fragile, lovely, leafy, dusty nose. It is layered with cassis and bramble, pomegranate molasses and crushed rocks, white pepper, sandalwood and concrete. In the mouth, the tannins are grippy and chalky, and there is real energy and zip in this wine. There was once a wine that I used to buy a lot of—a Chinon—and this reminds me very much of that wine. Good times were had with that wine, and I feel the same could be said of this. Here, there is an abundance of pressed flowers and sweet tobacco. I love it. Highly recommended. 95 Points.” Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate
Vintage: 2025
Tasting notes: This is Franc in its element - bright, fragrant and sauvage. Raspberry, violet and bay leaf on the nose, with leafy spice and dark forest fruits on the palate. It’s medium-bodied, savoury and fresh, with gentle supporting tannins and just the right amount of freshness and acidity to make it work brilliantly at a cool cellar temperature.
Winemaker’s notes: This is the fifth time we’ve worked with fruit from this little block, 15km south of Mount Barker. It’s a small planting of Cab Franc tucked out in the bush - one of those sites that flies under the radar, but quietly delivers the goods. Picked on the edge of ripeness to keep it savoury and energetic, fruit was destemmed, fermented wild in open-top fermenters with minimal intervention - just a few lazy plunges now and then. The wine was left on lees in seasoned French barriques for around six months, before blending and bottling with minimal sulphites. Alcohol 13%
Reviews:
2025: “Davies and Snook included this wine in their top six wines from the blind tasting. Davies described it as “leaning confidently into a fruit-forward style, with macerated strawberries and blueberries sitting front and centre, layered over allspice and a heady floral lift of peony and iris. Blackcurrant-leaf freshness cuts cleanly through all this prettiness, and after a few more swirls around the glass, a faint mealy note comes through. The palate, whilst medium-bodied, carries a surprisingly weighted texture and a silky level of glycerol. A full spectrum of red and black berries plays out, kept in check by a taut plum-skin acidity that washes across the palate. That signature blackcurrant leaf note returns, with a grounding counterpoint of black olive bringing balance. It’s pretty generous, in a drink-now style that leans into its fruit, but it keeps enough savoury detail and structure to stay engaging.” Snook noted that “blackberry and blackcurrant drive the nose, framed by violet florals and cocoa spice, while shiso leaf lends a savoury bitterness that adds intrigue. The palate stays bright and crunchy, alive with primary fruit and fresh acidity that gives shape and swagger in equal measure. Vibrant and dangerously drinkable, this is cabernet franc with charm, tension and plenty of personality.”
Young Gun DEEP DIVE Tasting: Australia’s Best Cabernet Franc
2023: “The 2023 Fric Frac has a fragile, lovely, leafy, dusty nose. It is layered with cassis and bramble, pomegranate molasses and crushed rocks, white pepper, sandalwood and concrete. In the mouth, the tannins are grippy and chalky, and there is real energy and zip in this wine. There was once a wine that I used to buy a lot of—a Chinon—and this reminds me very much of that wine. Good times were had with that wine, and I feel the same could be said of this. Here, there is an abundance of pressed flowers and sweet tobacco. I love it. Highly recommended. 95 Points.” Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate
