Mostly Older Cabernet Franc Tasting
New Jersey, USA
Tasted December 2, 2023 by oldwines with 66 views
Introduction
I have been waiting quite a number of years to do this tasting. Finally did it with a subset of the usual guys. 6 of us enjoyed the evening’s wines with a variety of meats, cheeses, potatoes, roasted Brussels sprouts and cannoli and cookies. We started with a few whites, then got to the blinded Cab Franc’s and finished with a little dessert.
Flight 1 - Some Whites to Warm-up (3 notes)
Everyone really enjoyed all three of these whites. The Chassagne and Hunting Hill were surprisingly close with the difference probably being age. The 2022 Kumeu River needs a lot more time in the cellar while the Morey Les Vergers was perfectly mature. The Dönnhoff was also quite young but was drinking great nevertheless. Each of these was great with various cheeses, especially a truffle cheese from Italy.
White
2014 Domaine Marc Morey & Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Vergers
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru
I thought this was a little better than the last bottle a few years back. Very crystalline bright yellow color with a tinge of green. Nose is bright and clean with wet stones, lemon pith, lime and stone fruit. Palate has great acidity and minerality white peach, pear, bits of lemon and a mouthwatering saline accented finish. I loved it especially with food.
White
2022 Kumeu River Chardonnay Hunting Hill
New Zealand, North Island, Auckland, Kumeu
This bottle was double decanted about 2 hours before tasting. It was lovely and though still a baby, quite plush and flavorful (decanting helped). Bright acidity, slight creaminess, flavorful mixed citrus and some white peach. Rich, long finish with stony minerals. This should evolve beautifully over the next decade or so.
Flight 2 - The Main Event (8 notes)
The food pairings worked well. We had various contributions which included, smoked beef brisket, wood fire grilled porterhouse steak, sautéed duck breast and wood fire grilled elk tenderloin. The wines from the 1980 were tired and past prime along with the 2008 Chinon, but the other wines were quite interesting and especially good with the meats. The top three among the group were the 1994 Waterbrook, 1995 Cosentino and 2008 Paleo Rosso with different individuals liking one or the another slightly more. The 2014 Baudry was probably too young compared to the others to show at its best.
Red
1994 Waterbrook Cabernet Franc
USA, Washington, Columbia Valley
One of 8 Cab Franc’s tasted at my “Mostly Older Cab Franc Tasting”… Really tasty, balanced and mature. Medium dark garnet color. Nose and palate are a bit floral, herbal but not at all vegetal along with plenty of resilient fruit and a touch of chocolate. Long, rich yet lively, fresher than its age would suggest and a pretty luxurious finish. Universally liked and certainly in the top 2-3 for everyone.
Red
1995 Cosentino Winery Cabernet Franc
USA, California, Napa Valley
One of 8 Cab Franc’s tasted at my “Mostly Older Cab Franc Tasting”… Double decanted at 1:30pm and tasted from about 5-8pm. Translucent dark garnet with just slight bricking. Bright acidity remains, with still some tannic structure. Some new oak influence for sure but controlled and balanced. Red berry, cherry, milk chocolate but also some black fruit. Really nice texture. Long elegant, almost luxurious finish. Delicious and easy to drink.
Red
1987 Caymus Cabernet Franc
USA, California, Napa Valley
One of 8 Cab Franc’s tasted at my “Mostly Older Cab Franc Tasting”… Double decanted at 2pm and tasted from 4-8pm. A gift from my brother circa 1990 when he visited the winery and got this for me. I clearly waited too long to have it. The fill looked perfect and the cork was as well. Tons of sediment and resulting in a very light bodied wine. Heavily bricked, musty milk chocolate nose that was not unpleasant. This got a little better with air but never really came around to something as good as I had hoped. There is some chocolate covered cherry and some bacon and game meat notes but certainly not pristine and showing considerable VA. Pretty much consistently not liked.
Red
1987 Cosentino Winery Cabernet Franc Reserve
USA, California, Napa Valley, St. Helena
One of 8 Cab Franc’s tasted at my “Mostly Older Cab Franc Tasting”… Double decanted at 2:15pm and tasted from 4-8pm. Dark garnet with some bricking. The has both herbal and green pepper notes along with chocolate, cherry. Tasted more youthful than it looked but was lacking in fruit in terms of balance. Earthy and scorched earth notes on the finish. At different times this was a little disjointed and was showing its age.
Red
2014 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Le Clos Guillot
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon
One of 8 Cab Franc’s tasted at my “Mostly Older Cab Franc Tasting”… This bottle was double decanted at noon and tasted from 4-8pm. This had a surprisingly large amount of fine sediment coating the inside of the bottle. Translucent medium garnet. Typical Cab Franc nose…herbal, red fruit, burnt /scorched earth notes and spice. Palate is not quite evolved yet, seems to need another 5-10 years to come around. Fairly sturdy tannin and bright acidity. Palate has green pepper, under-ripe boysenberry, cherry, spices. Light to mid weight texture but flavors are more weighty. Little to no new oak influence. Medium long finish. Mixed for the group, I think it needs more time in the cellar.
Red
2008 Vignobles du Paradis Chinon Cuvée Signée
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon
One of 8 Cab Franc’s tasted at my “Mostly Older Cab Franc Tasting”… Less than pristine bottle, lots of VA bordering on vinegar. Only a little bricking but some vegetal and chocolate notes, drinkable but not pleasant.
Red
2007 Le Macchiole Paleo Rosso
Italy, Tuscany, Toscana IGT
One of 8 Cab Franc’s tasted at my “Mostly Older Cab Franc Tasting”… Double decanted at 12:30pm and tasted from 4-8pm. Nearly opaque dark garnet color. Nose has some new oak influence, lightly herbal, re and black berry fruit. Palate is quite richly textured with spice, boysenberry, black cherry, blackberry and Pomegranate. Soft, well integrated tannin, Medium acid. Long finish. Lovely wine, great with Elk and BBQ Beef Brisket. Consistently one of the top 3 wines for everyone.
Red
1997 Nichols Winery & Cellars Cabernet Franc Cienega Valley Vineyard
USA, California, Central Coast, Cienega Valley
One of 8 Cab Franc’s tasted at my “Mostly Older Cab Franc Tasting”… Double decanted at 1pm and tasted from 4-8pm. The bottle was coated inside by fine sediment. Lightly bricked garnet red. Tastes old and leathery with herbal, charcoal, cherry accents. With more air this gets a bit better, darker and more fruit. Middle of the pack for most people.
Flight 3 - Dessert (1 note)
Cannoli with chocolate chips in the ricotta were delicious and surprisingly good with the aged beer.
Beer
2014 Dogfish Head Brewery 120 Minute IPA
USA, Delaware
In my wine cellar since release. Rich caramel color. Delightfully malty, floral and slightly raisiny. Wonderfully delicious with cookies and cannoli. A very pleasant surprise!
Closing
I do wish I had done this when all of the wines were in their prime, especially the oldest ones. It was fun and delicious nonetheless! Thanks to all who brought some of the wines and food…
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