Tawse Growers Blend Cabernet Franc 2020

A generous, ripe year for Niagara growers, this 2020 cabernet franc puts the vintage, and talented winemaking, on full display in a style that’s somewhere between the Loire and Bordeaux. Absent are the variety’s leafy-herbal pyrazines, traded in for riper red and black fruit, while wood is a minor contribution to the overall profile. Length and depth are very good, and in the final summary, this is a sharp value in one of Ontario’s strongest varietal categories. Drink now-2028 or so. Tasted July 2023. Score – 91. (John Szabo, MS, winealign.com)