The 2019 Avoyelles Oakville Ranch checks in as 55% Cabernet Franc, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Petit Verdot, all from the Oakville Ranch Vineyard and aged 22 months in French oak. It has an insanely good bouquet of chocolaty red and black fruits, dried herbs, chocolate, and obvious minerality as well as full-bodied richness and depth on the palate. Complex, layered, multi-dimensional, and perfectly balanced, it's an incredible Cabernet Franc-dominated blend that will benefit from just a handful of years in the cellar and keep for 15-20 years. Best After 2025

The 2019 Oakville Ranch Avoyelles is composed of 55% Cabernet Franc, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot. Deep garnet-purple colored, it offers up fragrant scents of cherry pie, blackberry preserves and mulberries with hints of violets, pencil lead, cedar and a touch of iron ore. The powerful, full-bodied palate (15.2% alcohol) has a solid structure of firm, grainy tannins and bold freshness supporting the generous black fruits, finishing long and minerally. 195 cases were made.

The 2019 Avoyelles, Tony Biagi's Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon blend from Oakville Ranch, shows good depth, but in the understated style of the 2019s here. The tannins are pretty imposing at this stage, but then again, that is Oakville Ranch. Inky dark fruit, mocha, spice and new leather emerge, and yet I don's see the explosive energy of the best editions.