Wine of the week: Frank Family Vineyards, 2021 Carneros Pinot Noir

The pinot noir whisperer?

“As a winemaker, it’s my job to listen to Mother Nature and adapt to what pinot noir needs in a specific vintage,” said Todd Graff, a 20-year veteran of Calistoga’s Frank Family Vineyards. “I’d like to think by now I know how to listen to what pinot noir wants.”

Graff is behind our wine of the week winner, the Frank Family Vineyards, 2021 Carneros Pinot Noir, 14.5%, $40. This pinot has aromas and flavors of cranberry and strawberry — gorgeous tangy fruit — riding on crisp acid. It’s balanced, complex and well-integrated, with a lingering finish.

One of the reasons the pinot is a standout, the winemaker said, is because 2021 was a dry year, which led to low yields and fruit with great intensity.

“Following the nerve-wracking 2020 vintage, 2021 was a breath of fresh air,” Graff said. “Cool nights and sunny days, with no heat spikes or heavy rain, led to grapes in near-perfect condition. Combine an already great vintage with Frank Family’s strong relationships with our long-term growing partners like Sangiacomo and Beckstoffer and the careful farming of our estate Lewis Vineyard in Carneros (American Viticultural Area), and you’ve captured lightening in a bottle.”

With his background in bubbly, Graff said he’s a natural at crafting pinot noir.

“I cut my teeth as a sparkling winemaker at Napa Valley’s Schramsberg and Cordoniu (now Artesa),” he said. “I worked with a lot of pinot noir and chardonnay. The skills that I learned making sparkling wine, striving for bottles that are rich yet balanced and full of acidity, carry over to making still pinot noir.”

Graff, now 61, grew up in Petaluma. After graduating from UC Davis with a degree in plant science and viticulture, he circled the globe working at Joseph Phelps Vineyards; Weingut Klaus Schweicher in Mosel, Germany; Château Yon-Figeac in Saint-Émilion, France; and at Arrowfield Estate in Australia’s Hunter Valley.

He returned to Napa Valley in 1987 and worked as an assistant winemaker at Stag’s Leap Winery. Then, from 1990 to 1995, he was the assistant winemaker and vineyard manager at Schramsberg Vineyards.

Graff is now the winemaker and general manager at Frank Family Vineyards, which he joined in 2003. The winery produces, on average, 150,000 cases a year, and the winemaker said he delights in making sun-kissed pinots.

Frank Family Vineyards plans to open its new 2,300-square-foot hospitality barn — called the Miller House — April 6 for upscale tasting experiences, such as a $120 food and wine pairing.

“Pinot noir comes in many styles,” Graff said. “The Frank Family pinot noir is a California pinot through and through. In Napa’s Carneros, we’re blessed with an abundance of sunshine. And while we respect the heritage and craft of Burgundian winemaking, our pinot noir is made to showcase the character of this beautiful fruit as it presents itself in our California coastal terroir.”

You can reach Wine Writer Peg Melnik at 707-521-5310 or peg.melnik@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pegmelnik.