Longting Reserve Cabernet Franc 2020

92 / 100

Edward Ragg, The Wine Advocate

Longting has been making some of the best single-varietal Cabernet Franc in China for a few vintages now, and the 2020 does not disappoint. Medium ruby in appearance, the 2020 Reserve Cabernet Franc has lifted, perfumed red and black fruit, with red and black cherry and red and black plum with some bramble and leafy herbaceous character (green bell pepper and sage) with delicate new oak notes of clove, toast and smoke (it spent some 12 months in small-format French oak, of which 30% was new). On the palate, it is full-bodied with crunchy, crystalline tannins and the bright acidity typical of the variety (but also a marker for Penglai) and relatively well-integrated 14.9% alcohol. This structure supports a reasonably concentrated core of lively Cabernet Franc fruit with those sweet and savory herbaceous and oak-derived notes. With its longer (if not very long) length, it doesn’t quite have the finesse and intensity of the 2019 vintage but is compellingly assembled and very varietally true.