Leah Jørgensen Cellars, 2018 Cabernet Franc, Southern Oregon AVA, Oregon, USA
Cab Franc du Jour #81
While Cabernet Franc represents a small piece of Oregon’s viticultural landscape, there is no one more passionate and committed to the variety in the state than Leah Jorgensen.
As Oregon’s only Cabernet Franc specialist, her love of the grape blossomed while working in wine sales in Washington DC, where exposure to the great Loire Valley Cabernet Francs in the portfolios of Louis Dressner and others proved transformative. When she moved to Oregon in 2009 to embrace her familial roots and take up winemaking, she chose Cabernet Franc as her star variety, partly because she could source high-quality fruit at significantly lower cost than the intensely competitive Pinot Noir market.
Leah Jorgensen Cellars launched in 2011, and today she produces several Cabernet Francs each vintage, including a rosé, a blanc de franc, and single-vineyard expressions alongside the flagship bottling featured here.
Cabernet Franc in Oregon
Pinot Noir leads the state’s plantings at around 59% of all acreage, with just over 23,500ha in the ground as of 2020. Cabernet Franc accounts for only 343ha, less than 1% of total plantings, with most of that concentrated in Southern Oregon, which is the focus of today’s terroir discussion.
Southern Oregon AVA
The Southern Oregon AVA encompasses about 25% of the state’s vineyards and begins just past Eugene, roughly 200km south of Portland, extending southward for nearly another 200km to just north of the California border. The viticultural area is defined by two major river valleys: the Umpqua River Valley in the north, running north to south, and the Rogue River Valley in the south, running more east to west.
The microclimate here is markedly different from that of the Willamette Valley to the north, where Pinot Noir dominates. The Siskiyou Mountains, part of the coastal range, lie to the west and shelter these river valleys from Pacific precipitation, the ocean sitting about 50km away, making Southern Oregon drier and sunnier than the coast. The Cascade Mountains bound the region to the east. Between these two mountain ranges, vineyards are planted at moderate elevations that generate a meaningful diurnal temperature range, with differences of up to 15C between daytime highs and nighttime lows, slowing ripening and preserving natural acidity. The combination of mountain ranges, river valleys, and varying aspects and elevations makes Southern Oregon suitable for a wide diversity of grape varieties, but also means that site selection is critical.
The Rogue Valley AVA & The Vineyards
Today’s wine is sourced from two vineyard sites near the town of Medford in the Rogue Valley AVA, established in 1991. This particular part of the Rogue Valley is defined by the Bear Creek River, a tributary that runs north to south. Both the Craterview and Sundown vineyards are on the west side of the Bear Creek River at an average elevation of around 487m above sea level. The Cabernet Franc block at Craterview covers approximately 1.32 acres with a slightly more westerly exposure, benefiting from the stronger afternoon sunshine, while the Sundown block of around 3 acres faces slightly more to the east.
Southern Oregon’s soils fall broadly into three groups: marine sedimentary soils, volcanic soils, and alluvial stream sediments. Along the Bear Creek River, the dominant influence is alluvial stream sediments, specifically silty-loam and clay-loam soils with a notably high proportion of calcareous materials, including sedimentary rock with marine fossils. This combination of soil characteristics has helped this part of the Rogue Valley emerge as a promising source for Bordeaux varieties. In 2015, Leah found rocks bearing mollusc fossils, other marine fossils, limestones, and blue schist in the Craterview vineyard, subsequently confirmed by a local geologist to be of marine origin dating to approximately 250 million years ago.
Both blocks were planted in 2004. The soils are classified as Gregory silt-loam, with the calcareous and sedimentary rock content providing a good balance of drainage and moisture retention. Drip irrigation is installed given the area’s low rainfall, and the vineyards are farmed sustainably.
In the Cellar
Leah works with 100% destemmed fruit in a split of 50% whole berry and 50% crushed. A four-day cold soak precedes fermentation, which takes place with cultured yeast in open-top fermenters. Punchdowns are performed twice daily during active fermentation, with total skin contact of approximately two weeks. Aging takes place in a combination of neutral French oak and stainless steel for about eight months before the lots are blended and bottled.
Wine Details
Producer: Leah Jørgensen Cellars
Region: Oregon
AVA: Southern Oregon AVA (Rogue Valley)
Vineyards: Craterview and Sundown Vineyards
Soils: Alluvial stream sediments, with calcareous and sedimentary rocks with marine fossils
Alcohol: 14.0%