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November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus!

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Salil

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Re: Almost November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus?

by Salil » Mon Oct 31, 2011 6:51 pm

Bob Parsons Alberta. wrote:When I think Cab Franc, I think Chinon! Here is a very good video.....>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNt82EOfwUo

Drink more Rougeard!
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Dave Erickson

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Re: Almost November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus?

by Dave Erickson » Tue Nov 01, 2011 5:46 pm

The Loire. And nothing but.

James Petit Bourgueil “Les Galluches”

Clos Cristal Saumur-Champigny

Domaine Bernard Baudry AOC Chinon

and etc.
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Re: Almost November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus?

by Mark Lipton » Wed Nov 02, 2011 1:39 pm

James Roscoe wrote:There ought to be a way to honor Rogov for a month without resorting to Israeli wines. Put your thinking caps on folks!!!!


How about "Wines sealed with cork" as a Rogov-inspired topic? :D

Mark Lipton
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Re: Almost November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus?

by Mark Lipton » Wed Nov 02, 2011 1:43 pm

2007 Guion Bourgueil "Cuvée Domaine"
nose: fairly muted, mostly grapefruit, a hint of minerals emerging after an hour
palate: medium body, very little fruit, high acidity, clipped finish

I bought this wine a year or two ago on the strength of a recommendation by Chambers Street Wines, a usually no-fail endorsement. I think that I perhaps waited too long on this one as I had it mis-filed as the Guion "Cuvée Prestige" until recently. In any event, it was tired and not too appealing, sad to say. Will have to compensate soon with an '09 Baudry Estate.

Update: Tonight I revisited the leftovers of the wine and it fleshed out considerably, with more fruit in evidence and a slight hint of meat in the nose. Much improved, so last night's showing was probably indicative of a shut-down wine.

Mark Lipton
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Bob Parsons Alberta

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Re: November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus!

by Bob Parsons Alberta » Thu Nov 03, 2011 2:42 am

I would like to think that this Bourgueil just needs more time? Jim Budd has a lot of faith in `07, his blog is a must visit for all Loire-heads.

http://jimsloire.blogspot.com/search?q= ... results=20
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Re: November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus!

by ChaimShraga » Thu Nov 03, 2011 8:31 am

How well does Cab Franc go with ossobucco?
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Re: November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus!

by Salil » Thu Nov 03, 2011 8:33 am

A few recent Cab Francs...

1996 Domaine de la Chevalerie Bourgueil Breteche
Very nice - fresh currant and red fruited flavours seasoned with green forestal and herbal elements and a savoury earthiness. It's not particularly complex, but very well balanced with the tannins mostly resolved and a bright acid spine keeping it very precise and refreshing, and a lovely accompaniment to grilled meat.

2006 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny Les Poyeux
Very, very young and a little tannic right now, but already offering a great deal of depth and aromatic complexity. Starts out with a beautiful fragrance of ripe berried fruit with a green herbaceous seasoning and with air opens out to show more earthy and mineral elements. There's a sense of real polish and finesse to the texture, and the structure and balance here suggest this will be amazing with time.

2007 Clos Rougeard (Foucault) Saumur-Champigny "Clos"
Unyielding and aromatically reticent at first, but with air opens out to show incredibly pure dark fruited flavours over a stony mineral base with fresh green herbal and forestal accents. There's wonderful balance here and I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops with time.
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Re: November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus!

by Robin Garr » Thu Nov 03, 2011 1:48 pm

ChaimShraga wrote:How well does Cab Franc go with ossobucco?

Bianco or rosso? I think it would work with the red. With the white, especially with a lemony gremolata, maybe not so much.
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Re: November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus!

by Howie Hart » Thu Nov 03, 2011 2:17 pm

I just finished spending the past 5 hours bottling my 2010 blend of 70% Cabernet Franc and 30% Merlot. The wine spent 11 months in a new Hungarian oak barrel. Several WLDGers have tasted barrel samples of this at few offlines (Indy, Bob Ross Jeebus, MOCOOL). A total of 34 gallons: 1-5L bottle; 18 Magnums; 130-750ml bottles. A small quantity required filtering, but the rest is unfined and unfiltered. I was excited about this wine starting about a month before harvest because I realized what a great vintage it was going to be. The Cab Franc was sourced from Freedom Run Winery (Niagara Escarpment, NY) as fresh grapes and the Merlot was purchased at Watson's press house in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario, as crushed must. I have about a half bottle left over from bottling that I am sipping right now. 13% ABV. Deep red with just a touch of purple. Dark berry fruit and a bit of smokiness on the nose. Juicy, tannic and a full, long finish. I believe this is the first time I ever wrote up a WTN on one of my own wines. I'm now anticipating how this wine will evolve over time, and I have to get some labels designed and printed.
Chico - Hey! This Bottle is empty!
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Re: November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus!

by David Mc » Thu Nov 03, 2011 2:32 pm

2006 Charles Joguet Chinon Les Varennes du Grand Clos
2006 Catherine et Pierre Breton Chinon St Louans


I bought the above two bottles last year and the guy at the wine store told me they wouldn't be ready for a while. When is "a while?"

Any guidelines of what years of Chinon are drinkable now?
Last edited by David Mc on Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus!

by Victorwine » Thu Nov 03, 2011 2:48 pm

Hi Howie,
Great to hear and great idea! I never thought about bottling with larger than a Magnum bottle. Especially if planning to tuck a few bottles away for the “long haul” and drinking it at a special family gathering. Does the Jeroboam bottle fit under your floor corker?

Salute
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Re: November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus!

by Bob Parsons Alberta » Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:11 pm

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Re: November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus!

by Howie Hart » Thu Nov 03, 2011 5:14 pm

Victorwine wrote:...Does the Jeroboam bottle fit under your floor corker?
No. I learned a trick from a friend. The neck opening is much larger than a standard bottle, about an inch in diameter and requires a larger cork, about the same size as a Champagne cork. The trick is to insert a wood screw about 1/4 inch into the top, then compress the cork for several minutes in the corker. When the bottle is full, release the compression on the corker and insert the cork into the neck of the bottle and hold it in place with the screw until it expands, about a minute, and then remove the screw. I filled that bottle many years ago and opened it at my wife's 50th birthday party, so it will have to be a very special occasion.
Chico - Hey! This Bottle is empty!
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Re: November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus!

by Richard Fadeley OLD » Thu Nov 03, 2011 9:54 pm

WTN: FWIW, we seem to have an excess of Sauvion '07 Chinon in town (Columbia, SC). $11, 12/5% ABV, and simply perfect. A few years ago there was ample "green bean" which I kind of liked, but that has mostly subsided as the wine matures, and we are left with a quintessential cab franc, lead pencil, earth and black fruit. As I picked up 2 of the last 6 bottles yesterday, Chris @ Green's assured me that no one else would be buy that wine, except me. I have 3-4 bottles left, but will probably go back and get the remaining stock. Funny how different people appreciate different wines, and no one is "right".
Richard Fadeley, CWS
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Re: November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus!

by ChaimShraga » Fri Nov 04, 2011 2:26 am

Robin Garr wrote:
ChaimShraga wrote:How well does Cab Franc go with ossobucco?

Bianco or rosso? I think it would work with the red. With the white, especially with a lemony gremolata, maybe not so much.


Hope to try it tomorrow. Thanks, Robin.
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Re: November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus!

by Linette W » Sat Nov 05, 2011 2:03 am

Cab Franc definitely deserves to be recognized as a great stand-alone varietal. I've tried many Cab Francs and my all-time favorite is made by Clos du Bois. Who would have thought? It's a must-try if you haven't had it. Chappellet makes a nice Cab Franc, as well.
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Re: November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus!

by Bob Parsons Alberta » Sat Nov 05, 2011 8:41 am

Welcome Linette. I seem to remember that Jekel used to turn out a CF too?
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Re: November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus!

by Tim York » Sat Nov 05, 2011 10:56 am

I've no doubt at all that Cabernet franc produces great wines unblended and that in this respect it is superior to Cabernet Sauvignon. I hope to open several from the Loire this month but meanwhile here is a note from three years ago on a superb example from Tuscany.

Vignamaggio – IGT Toscana – 1998 – Villa Vignamaggio, Greve in Chianti – Alc. 13%.

This wine is made in minute quantities from 2,500 Cabernet franc vines. Here is the estate’s own information on this wine - http://www.vignamaggio.it/english/produ ... eyCode=CAB . Germaine and I were rationed to one bottle each.

C: Still quite deep with no marked signs of ageing visible in the dim light of my dining room.
N: Elegant and complex sweet red fruit with hints of kirsch and very faintly of cigar box.
P: This wine is classically shaped with long finish and is of medium weight with good body and depth showing finely complex and fragrant sweet fruit, velvety mouth-feel, generosity, gentle freshness and gently resolved structure. A delicately fragrant after-glow was perceptible for far longer than the timings given by some famous critics for long finishes. I have affectionate memories of two lovely bottles of 1990 but I don’t think that this bottle of 1998, theoretically an inferior year, was any less beautiful; 17.5/20.

Had I been blindfold, I don’t think that my Loire orientated palate would have spotted Cabernet franc; it was more generous and “sweet”. And with my Sangiovese orientation I would not have guessed Tuscany. I think that I would have plumped for a fine, low Merlot, right bank Bordeaux.

Vignamaggio is a beautiful old estate which runs an up-market B&B business where we spent a memorable few days in October 2004. For those who love Tuscany and its wines, architecture and countryside, I recommend a tour through the above link.
Last edited by Tim York on Mon Nov 07, 2011 6:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus!

by Bill Hooper » Sat Nov 05, 2011 3:36 pm

I'm going to try to get down to France this month where the Cabernet Franc options are more plentiful, but aside from a Minges if I'm lucky, there aren't all that many single varietal German CF bottlings. Here is a decent one from last month:

2009 Weingut Zelt Cabernet Franc –Pfalz, Germany 14,5%

Zelt is another fine estate from Laumersheim. If not up to the very high standards set by Knipser and Kuhn in that village, Zelt certainly makes very good wine but perhaps in a more silky, polished, modern style.

I’m happy to see Cabernet Franc bottled alone, no matter where it comes from. In the end, nothing really satisfies like Bougueil, Chinon, or Saumur-Champigny, but I’ve enjoyed CF from California, Washington, New York, Argentina, Chile, Australia, Italy, Hungary, Austria, and Germany.

Zelt leans more toward the CA style in that it is unmistakably Cabernet Franc, but instead of beginning and ending with savory, salty, and herbaceous, it is the plushness of fruit that leads with those more interesting characters playing back-up.

Cheers,
Bill
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Re: November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus!

by ChaimShraga » Sat Nov 05, 2011 4:19 pm

Domaine Guiberteau, Samaur, 2009

Fragrant red fruit, tart but not sharp, laced with minerals, tobacco leaves and forest floor, medium-bodied with prominent, yet savory tannins, the bright acidity keeping the groove on the one. I'll always have room for wines like this at home. (Nov. 5, 2011)

Giaconda, about 35 USD.
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Re: November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus!

by David Mc » Sat Nov 05, 2011 4:32 pm



Thanks for the link. Jim has some interesting things to say about Jay Miller's (now cancelled) visit to Spanish wineries. That's some hard hitting reporting.

http://jimsloire.blogspot.com/
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Re: November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus!

by Tim York » Mon Nov 07, 2011 12:00 pm

Chinon Vieilles Vignes 2000 – Alliet – Alc. 12.5% is a remarkably rich Chinon, especially in view of its coming, I think, from gravelly sand soil of the sort which usually gives fruity, quite light early drinking Chinon. Medium/full bodied showing robust red fruit impregnated with earthy minerals, touches of wet leather with a firm tannic backbone on the finish and Chinon class; 16.5/20.
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Re: November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus!

by John Treder » Mon Nov 07, 2011 11:49 pm

Lang & Reed Cab Franc - 2007 California, North Coast, 13.5% alcohol, $18.99 at Beltramo's in Menlo Park, Feb. 2010
Very good Cab Franc. Plenty of vegetation, and a solid dose of plowed field in it. I'll enjoy the rest of the bottle.
Lang & Reed is a Cab specialist producer in St. Helena. This is 100% Cab Franc, from a couple of vineyards in Napa County and a couple in northwestern Lake County, according to the website's 2008 blurb.
I was inspired by Bob Parsons to have lamb shanks, but I ended up braising a beef shank. Story in the Kitchen.
I have two other bottles, each from a different winery (Hook & Ladder and Sunce, as if anyone cared). I like Cab Franc, but it's hard to find (even here!) and often rather pricey.

John

[A coupla days later] I finished off the bottle with a supper of mac&cheese (Swiss Emmenthaler and Vermont cheddar), a brat split, grilled and finished on top of the good stuff, and brussels sprouts parboiled, halved and browned with butter and olive oil.
This was the meal the wine was made for! The rusticity of the food made the earthy flavors of the CF show their very best.

JT
Last edited by John Treder on Wed Nov 09, 2011 11:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: November: Cab Franc for Wine Focus!

by Tim York » Wed Nov 09, 2011 8:26 am

Bougueil La Coudraye 2006 – Yannick Amirault – Alc.13.5%.

A bottle of this in September last year was disappointing and I wrote - I am a fan of Yannick Amirault and have liked a lot of Touraine 06s but this bottle was not up to standard. Medium bodied with fresh bright aromas, red fruit (red currants) and minerals (clay) but infused with a resinous streak which did not appeal; 14.5/20.

Luckily last night's bottle was all it should be in Amirault's ripe and polished style which aims to eschew the typical green pepper and the animal notes (both of which I like in moderation) of a lot Loire Cabernet franc. Most of the previous description applies but, for my greater pleasure, I got none of that resinous streak and instead there were nice dabs of wet leather, of which Amirault might disapprove but which, for me, add something positive at this moderate level; a very nice tipple 15.5/20+++.
Tim York
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