Community Tasting Note

• mjwstickings Likes this wine: 89 points

  March 29, 2022 - Cabernet Franc is one of my favourite varietals, if not my favourite red one, and I generally really like wines from the Loire, but here's one that's just not ready yet. Not even close. Still so tight and wound up, the tannins are puckeringly firm, utterly dominating the highly astringent late palate and finish, while the acids are cuttingly sharp. Even by the third day, the acidity softening a bit, the tannins, with a certain woody character, remain unrelenting. That said, I would tend to give wines from Chinon, from a top producer, the benefit of the doubt, and I'd give this 3-5 years, and it may well be at or near its peak through the end of the decade. I say this because there's a lot to like even now, and a lot for which to be hopeful. It's authentic, to be sure, though rather powerful at 14.5% ABV. Notes of blackberry, black pepper, green pepper, herbs, earth, and graphite, along with a hint of tobacco that may develop over time, express both region and varietal in a deeply savoury way, and certainly with patience now it's possible to get a sense of what may be coming once it unwinds. It's hard to score it, but it could end up between 88 and 91, I'd say, as even if not hugely appealing now it still shows enough to warrant an 89 with significant upside if all goes well.

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