Cabernet franc

You are most likely to find CF in its pure state in the Veneto region of Italy, where it may be just labelled Cabernet. Rarely hits high peaks, but this has nothing to do with the grape variety itself. Otherwise it would not be blended into some of the world's best wines ;-)

You will find the highest % of CF in St Emilion.

I will never forget an early pure(or nearly pure) Cabernet Franc from California. It was the Mount Veeder Winery Cabernet Franc 1977. Even at

10 years old it still was nearly of the color of india ink, and it was one of the most tannic wines I have ever seen. It had some decent fruit, but it was difficult to find it in the very heavy tannin. It might have been good in a small amount in a Cabernet Sauvignon based blend, but as a pure wine it was far too extreme for me.

Mike Tommasi wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net:

Mike, What about the wines of the Touraine? Chinon, Bourgeuil etc? Most or all Cab France and I find excellent with magret du canard.

Do you judge all cab franc by a single 25 year old wine durnk over 15 years ago?

Took a long time for CA to get the grass out of the cab franc.

And I recall the Zins from the early 70's. very bitter. an attempt to do zin in the bordeau style.

Grunlach Bunc(sp) has made some beautiful cab francs. fairly light by cab standards

On Fri, 04 Nov 2005 06:01:04 GMT, Jose wrote: | What do you folks think of Cabernet Franc, as a varietal for drinking | rather than blending? What do you like to eat with it? It's kind of | hard to find, but I like it when I do.

my palate isn't fine tuned when i comes to CF, but my fave is from Horton Vineyard in Orange, VA. very tasty.

] Mike Tommasi wrote in ] news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net: ] ] > Jose wrote: ] >> What do you folks think of Cabernet Franc, as a varietal for drinking ] >> rather than blending? What do you like to eat with it? It's kind of ] >> hard to find, but I like it when I do. ] > ] > You are most likely to find CF in its pure state in the Veneto region ] > of Italy, where it may be just labelled Cabernet. Rarely hits high ] > peaks, but this has nothing to do with the grape variety itself. ] > Otherwise it would not be blended into some of the world's best wines ] > ;-) ] > ] > You will find the highest % of CF in St Emilion. ] > ] > ] ] Mike, What about the wines of the Touraine? Chinon, Bourgeuil etc? Most ] or all Cab France and I find excellent with magret du canard. ]

Joseph,

Was about to make that point. And also plenty from Anjou-Saumur.

Drank a Spelty Chinon (99 clos de Neuilly) last weekend that was a real brooding monster, deep fruity back palate but still young and tannic. It followed a Cotes de Blaye that to my palate also had a very high percentage of CF.

As for what foods, wines from the Loire flatter a wide variety. We find ourselves turning more and more to them.

Did you get my mail a few weeks ago, BTW?

-E

Mike Tommasi wrote in news:3t0ic9Fp0iquU1 @individual.net:

Oh, Mike, I did not expect that from you ;-)

While wandering along the Angevine area last week I was able to taste several 100% CF wines. I specially enjoyed a Domaine Ogereau Anjou Rouge

2004 which had the sweetest tannins I have ever had in a wine (any wine).What a silky sensation in the mouth. And that is so scarce with the Loire Reds...

By the way, I managed to visit Mark Angeli at La Ferme de la Sansonniere and he is making a rouge but not with Cabernet Franc, but with Cabernet Sauvignon. In his opinion, Cabernet Franc is the right choice for the Chinon and easter zones of the Loire, but not for the Anjou A.O.C. I tried the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon and... ummm, well, it was so tannic that my teeth are still aching. His chenins, however, are beautiful as we could discover (Les Fouchardes 2000 was more than great) while having a great lunch at Les Tonnelles in Behouard.

Saumur, Saumur-Champigny, Chinon and Bourgueil are french AOCs that use

100% CF for the rouges (sometimes as the main part of a blend too).

Best,

S.

I have tried a few, Jose. I had one from Calif which resembled Cab Sauvignon (Daniel Gehrs, IIRC). I also had a few local makes (Penna.) which I really liked - they were more subtle. Cab Franc as a varietal is fine with me (never had a bad one) but it might not be everyone's cup of tea.

Dan-O

Where did you get this idea. I wrote nothing of the sort. Of course much of the best Cabernet Franc (and plenty of very common stuff) has long come from the Loire in France, but it usually is named for a subregion and often an individual vineyard for the best examples. Tons of poor Cabernet Franc under various names, often nearly a rose, imported into the US in the early days gave this grape a bad name. More recently a few really outstanding Loire examples can be found here. For example Clos de la Dioterie (from Chinon in the Loire) SCEA Charles Joynet 1990 was an outstanding example and has aged very well. There are several other top producers.

Yes there were vegetable tastes in many white and red wines in the 70s. Because of urban sprawl and the need to expand vineyards, many planted vineyards in new regions. Some regions were not suited for some grapes, and the way the vines were pruned and trained often had to be changed. Excessive leaves sometimes had to be removed. I can recall many reviews of wines from new regions in that era that mentioned asparagus, weeds, etc in describing the taste and smell of the wines. Of course the best growers in the 70s already had a long track record of making outstanding wine. For example, Ridge usually made a top Monte Bello CS, and they made many top Zinfandels from various regions. Many of these wines still are drinking well. BV has had ups and downs, but they made many top Private Reserve CSs in the 50s and 60s, and some of these still are drinking well.

What does "often nearly a rose" mean in this context?

Jose

Absolutely

Mike Tommasi - Six Fours, France email link

Look, when it comes to France most of AFW seems hung up on Bordeaux... and of course, nobody I know in France drinks that any more, not when they are paying at least... ;-) Most of us are selling off our Bordeaux stocks to buy... Loire?

Fantastic Ogereau. Sweet tannins in the whites too ;-)

Lucky guy, do you know that I have never visited a vineyard in the Loire yet? I know more vignerons there than in Bandol, but never been there!

When I finally do decide to go, I'll ask you first!

Jose wrote in news:lmOaf.9528$Lv.2211 @newssvr24.news.prodigy.net:

He probably meant most often or nearly always

A number of CF dominant wines have been appearing down under recently. Two that I am familiar with are:

Redgate (Western Australia). I have a memory of been told this vinery specialise in this variety. At a recent WA wines tasting the 1999 redgate was the popular choice as best wine.

Clearview estate (Hawke Bay NZ) produce a CF in some vintages (usually the warmer years). The 1998 is very memorable. (I must drag one out of the cellar and revisit it soon) Sorry no TN on these wines at hand.

As to a generalisation, I find CF wines to be soft (ie not esp. tannic), warming, and very black/red fruity. IMHO they require a few years in bottle so show their best. (But, I'd say that about most red wine) That allows the excessive fruit to calm somewhat.

cheers

"greybeard" wrote

However, the chance of finding this wine outside of NZ is zero!

Made in '94, '98, '00 and '02 in miniscule amounts - like 1,200 bottles only in '02 - available only from the winery.

The sandy soils at Clearview (only a 100 metres or so from the Pacific Ocean) really suit this variety.