Open Mike: Cabernet Franc.

As pointed out in a link in a post earlier in this thread, we tasted over 20 Cab Francs at last year's NiagaraCOOL. the Barboursville Vineyards 2004 Virginia Cabernet Franc Reserve was praised by all. Here are a few of the impressions:

Robin Garr - Earthy, lean, tart, peppery.

Steve Guattery - Slightly earthy with cherry fruit. Tastes young, slightly tannic on the palate, but nice Cab Franc character. Moderately long finish. The speculation at the start of the tasting was that this was French, although on retasting the fruit had opened up more, and it seemed more like a domestic wine. I've had Barboursville Cab Franc before, and liked it very much. This sample reinforced that favorable opinion.

James Roscoe - …I would point out the Barboursville from VA is the '04. I gave it a 17 myself. It was a solid effort from Virginia.

Mark Criden, wine writer for Buffalo Spree magazine - The surprise wine of the night, though, was the 2004 Barboursville Vineyards Cabernet Franc Reserve from Virginia, a lean, but dense, delicious wine for food.

I gave it an 18 out of 20.

[James Roscoe]

John and Howie and other Cab Franc lovers, if you like the Barboursville which comes in at $25 - 30, try the Horton Cab Franc which comes in at about half the price. It is not as complex, but it still gives that great "herbaciosness" at half the cost. Horton is usually known for its Vignior or its Norton, but its Cab Franc is as good as anything the winery produces. This should not be surpricing as it shares the same Virginia terrior as Barboursville. They are a few miles from each other.

in a library filled with very old books.

I love that description. I know exactly what you mean but I have never been able to find a better descriptor than "dusty", which sounds negative. May I borrow it in future?

Wildekrans 2004 Walker Bay Cabernet Franc (83 percent) Merlot (17 percent), $14
I bought this because Walker Bay is probably the coolest climate wine region in South Africa and because I've had a terrific South African CF before, from Warwick. This isn't as good, but it's not bad. The major flaw is that the oak is a little too obvious on the nose and palate, hindering but not entirely preventing enjoyment of nice cherry Cab Franc fruit, which is accented by some pleasant earth. The texture is somewhat soft, but there is enough acidity to keep it refreshing and food-friendly. It tastes better with food than without and actually goes very nicely both with garlic top and regular basil pesto. The next night, the oak is less overt with more emphasis on pleasant, reasonably bright fruit accented again by some earth. Goes great with barbecue. No importer noted on bottle.

Bruce, I have a friend in SA who is very familiar with local wines. Will ask him for some recs.
Your cab description sort of reminds me of a few reds at a recent SA tasting here!

in a library filled with very old books.

I love that description. I know exactly what you mean but I have never been able to find a better descriptor than "dusty", which sounds negative. May I borrow it in future?

Tim, I'd be flattered if you use it. By all means, be my guest.
jt

I have a question here as there is so much interest in CF...how unique is unoaked Cab Franc?
The reason why I ask is cos I have just come across one from Anjou!!

Not at all unique in the Loire valley. Use of NEW oak is quite rare, except in top cuvées of growers like Clos Rougeard, Ch. de Villeneuve, Alliet, Amirault, Roches Neuves; it is usually discreetly handled and I don't think I have met any real oak monsters except sometimes Cuvée Marginale from Roches Neuves. Wines in barrels used one or more times are quite common, as are wines which see no wood at all.

My favourite René-Noël Legrand from Saumur-Champigny uses 100% new oak on his top cuvée Les Rogelins and a lower proportion on Les Cards, used barrels on Les Lizières and cuves d'inox or cement for the rest, I think. He told me that when he first started using new oak, his revered "papa" was very shocked; "papa" used to break in new barrels on inferior wine so as to avoid giving that now popular taste to his best cuvées.

The well known Saumur-Champigny estate Château du Hureau (Philippe Vatan) uses no wood at all http://www.domaine-hureau.fr/uk/estate.htm

The Joguet estate at Chinon use no NEW oak. http://www.charlesjoguet.com/en/homepage/homepage.php

Nor does the Bernard Baudry estate in Chinon - http://www.chinon.com/vignoble/bernard-baudry/cuves.htm . (I have given the French version because, curiously, the English version omits the barrel ages. Also curiously, the site make no mention of the delicious whites he makes from chenin, admittedly in tiny quantities.)

A California example: 2005 Del Dotto Napa Valley Cabernet Franc.

Blackish ruby in color. Definitely shows the bell pepper side of Cab Franc. 2005 was not THAT cool a year, was it? Raspberry on the palate and the nose. Del Dotto is one of the few "expensive" Napa wineries that uses a good percentage of American oak in their bottlings-and this combines with the raw bell pepper flavor in a strange way.

On the one hand, Del Dotto sticks to a very well defined "house style" which can actually be refreshing at times. On the other hand, said house style is somewhat green and astringent, at least when young. I have one bottle of their Bordeaux blend, The David, in my cellar. Maybe I should crack it open in a year or two. 12/20

WTN: `06 Cabernet Franc Chateau de la Roulerie, Anjou, Loire Fr.

Good natural cork, 14%alc, $22 Cdn. Opened and stood for an hour. Not decanted, is non-oaked I believe.
The owners, Germain Saincril also owns a couple of Bordeaux/Cotes de Blaye chateaux......Peyredoulle, Maine Gazin.

Color. Medium ruby with thin reddish impressions. Some watery violet tones on the rim. Looks pretty light eh.

Nose. On opening aromas fill the room. Perfumed violets, red fruits, floral, brief spice, raspberry. All very nice and inviting and held up overnight under vacu-vin cap.

Palate. Initial entry tells me tannins, soft fresh red fruits, nice acidity. Interesting no oak here as this is quite tannic? Juicy, good fruit balance but tad on the young side right now (`06). Very fruit driven with plum, cranberry..not at all green. Finish has excellent grip, this is good stuff.

Re Roulerie:

That sounds right up my street, Bob. I think I've seen it around. This is owned by the same family as Château de Fesles, superb sweet Bonnezeau, and Roches Neuves, Saumur-Champigny.

You are spot on Tim!! I have some Coteaux du Layon too from these guys. Not able to find a great website however?
Their Saumur would be interesting I`d say.

Bob P...who is gonna open that Movia Ribolla tonite!!

Cabernet Franc – Vin de Pays d’Oc – 2005 – Domaine de Mairan – 13.5% alc. (€ 5,60).

During a visit to our nearest serious wine merchant in search of Malbec, Cahors and budget Bordeaux, I spotted this one and took the opportunity of seeing what Cabernet franc can deliver in one of the warmer and drier regions in France.

C: Quite light and transparent.
N: Red fruit with dashes of prune, fig and meridional herbs and a tang which provided a family resemblance with more northerly CF.
P: Attractively “sweet”, well balanced easy drinking with aromas and flavours as on the nose and showing more generosity and perfume but less bright focus, rigour, minerality and complexity than “savoury” Loire CF; not a lot of structure. Without the visual reference, I might have taken it for a fully flavoured rosé. Clearly a Mediterranean wine, it went well with a Portuguese inspired stew of pork and cockles in a light tomato sauce. 14.5/20 and good QPR.

The estate, previous unknown to me, is located north-west of the town of Béziers quite close to the Minervois, Saint-Chinian and Faugères sub-appellations.

[James Roscoe]

Tim what is pork and cockles? That is clearly a British dish. good find on the cab franc though!

http://www.teara.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/C ... 117enz.jpg

Here are some winkles...........>
http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previe ... 139526.JPG

Cockles and winkles are a fave dish somewhere in Europe?!!!

Tim what is pork and cockles? That is clearly a British dish. good find on the cab franc though!

Not a British dish, James. Germaine got it from a French TV cooking programme and they apparently said it was a Portuguese recipe. Quite an unusual combination and very good. The southern CabFranc was on hand and worked very well. Here's the recipe but, sorry, in French only - http://regions.france3.fr/cote-cuisine/ ... tte&id=418 .

"papa" used to break in new barrels on inferior wine so as to avoid giving that now popular taste to his best cuvées.

Great story.

Tim, have you checked out Gary`s V Cab franc tasting today on WineLibrary? A Chinon and one Bourgueil, plus a Napa.

Thanks, Bob, for pointing me towards Gary V's latest. As always it is filled with great insights. That "celery" descriptor is just right; why didn't I see it before Gary pointed it out?

Funny, though, that he describes Yannick Amirault's Coudraye as funky; that's just the flavour that Amirault is trying to eliminate; wrongly, in my view. I regard Amirault as one of the more sophisticated Loire red producers; what would Gary say about, say, René-Noël Legrand? I must try and get hold of some of this to see if I agree; it's likely to be sold out, however, because 2005 has been so mediatised.

The Chinon producer, Olek something, is new to me but it sounds good too.

In my first five minutes listening to Gary, I said to myself "what a loud mouthed weido"; then I started realizing that he was talking sound sense and had superb descriptive powers. I am now a firm fan.

The Chinon producer, Olek something, is new to me but it sounds good too.

Olek-Mery has been available in Pennsylvania, and when I asked about it I was told that it was produced by Baudry. I got the impression from what I was told that it was Baudry's wines labeled differently for some purpose or other. It turns out that it is a different estate, but Baudry is responsible for taking care of the vineyards and making the wine. I found that out at the Rosenthal website (Rosenthal imports Olek-Mery to the U.S.) Here is a link to the Rosenthal profile of the domaine.

Oh, and in addition to the note Howie quoted above, I've had the 1998 Barboursville Cabernet Franc, and liked it very much. One of my brothers still has a bottle, and has offered to open it when we have a chance to get together and drink some wine. That's something I happily anticipate.

In my first five minutes listening to Gary, I said to myself "what a loud mouthed weido"; then I started realizing that he was talking sound sense and had superb descriptive powers. I am now a firm fan.

Tim, it is a problem with a few here, loud that is! I would enjoy him more if I had high-speed internet. Too much buffering!
Gary is a big Cab Franc fan, I have solidified my position in that club too!! Problem is I ain`t got no Chinon or Bourgueil here! LOL.

[James Roscoe]

In my first five minutes listening to Gary, I said to myself "what a loud mouthed weido"; then I started realizing that he was talking sound sense and had superb descriptive powers. I am now a firm fan.

Tim, it is a problem with a few here, loud that is! I would enjoy him more if I had high-speed internet. Too much buffering!
Gary is a big Cab Franc fan, I have solidified my position in that club too!! Problem is I ain`t got no Chinon or Bourgueil here! LOL.

I can take or leave Gary V. I go through fits of watching his show and then I don't watch for weeks. I do love his taste in wines, especially cab. franc.

Chinon AOC « Les Varennes du Grand Clos » 1996 – Charles Joguet – Alc. 12.5% (€ 16.20 for 2005).

Following Bob’s report on a Bourgueil 1996 from Domaine des Chesnaies, I thought that I should take a look at a Chinon 1996 from Joguet. This was the last of 12 bottles of Joguet’s third ranking cuvée bought at the estate in the late 90s. Two or three bottles consumed up to about 5 years ago were inexpressive but then the wine blossomed in a vigorous, savoury style and most were consumed at a buffet dinner for Germaine’s riding friends.

C: Attractive red of medium density with light bricking at the rim.
N: Red fruit, particularly raspberry, and quite a lot of barnyard funk, which I do not recall from earlier bottles.
P: A beautifully balanced and elegant medium weight with the funk now retreated into the background, showing fine red fruit, bright mineral acidity, quite silky texture together with some depth and a sweet fragrance towards the long finish.

It was more ethereal and fragrant than I remember at that riders’ dinner. I think that this wine is at its peak or a bit past it and wonder whether the funk and acidity will not become more dominant. I will now move on to its bigger brothers Chêne Vert and la Dioterie which should be entering their drinking windows.