2025 Lubanzi Midnight Bob Cabernet Franc, South Africa

"The nose gives red and black plum, a note of clove, and a faint anise lift. The palate is lean and fresh, built for a slight chill, with crunchy red fruit, a berry-seed grip on the mid-palate, and moderate tannin. Lubanzi's founders, Walker Brown and Charlie Brain, met as American exchange students near Cape Town and started the label after a six-day, hundred-mile hike across South Africa's Wild Coast accompanied for part of the trip by a stray dog they nicknamed Lubanzi, Zulu for ""expansive."" Half of the company's net profits go to the Pebbles Project, which funds healthcare and education for families working South African wine farms."