I just love lightly chilled Cab Franc with a burger in the summer and this one perfectly fit the bill. Great price point. Not too green or stemmy. Perfect.
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Deep red color. Nice fruit on the nose but fairly drying tannins at this point in its life. I am not sure this wine can redeem itself with further aging.
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This wine seems to finally be in a good place; significant improvement over the prior bottles drank in both 2013 and 2015. With a short decant, it opened with smoky, and earthy aromatics followed by spicy, red currant; tart cherry; leafy tobacco; dusty earth; and some chewy, but manageable tannin. Tannin and acidity support a long finish. Paired very well with baked salmon topped with pesto infused bread crumbs. Drinking well at present and should cellar well for another 5+ years.
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Tasty, brought with me to a seminar in Houston, to sip from in the evenings. Earthy with some leather and tart black cherry flavors, with quite a presence of rustic tannins, supported by tense acidity. Drink now through 2021+. Very nice value.
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I like it a lot. It represents cab franc wonderfully. I think much criticism of this is rooted in how foreign the grape is. What's nice about this bottle is how true to cab franc it is. Is there something better? I suppose, but once again if removed from our pedestals of choice, I think notes about this would be more forgiving. There is a rough (read: good) edge to the wine. It is not "clean" but is it the work of a winemaker somewhere in central France making wine. If I were in central France drinking this I would be at once comforted (local) and challenged because this bottle has terroir, it has character and while it is not a Bordeaux nor a Burgundy of "heavy" note, it is a wine, a fine one at that, that represents just where the winemaker, the varietal and the vintage were at. And to my taste, that is a really good place.
A solid bottle of wine with a good QPR at less than $15. Notes consistent with my prior notes a year ago: lots of green and slightly musty earthiness, spicy currant, dry, tart cherry, dark bitter chocolate, and firm but manageable tannins, with a fair amount of complexity, and acidity. Very Old World style, so plan on decanting as aeration will improve the experience. Enjoy with food.
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Moving up with age. Mid-dark garnet; ripe grape nose; jam; plum; minerals; fellow taster said "iodine" but I didn't get it; mid-body; tight tannins, acids; good flavor after that. Needs a little more time. w/BBQ chicken.
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I'm very happy this wine is showing way better than it did a year ago. I loved the '07 so I bought a case+ of this wine and didn't enjoy that first bottle. In hopes they improved, I had originally decided to let these sleep for a while at the back of the cellar, but for space reasons and the low cost I decided to instead start popping them. This bottle has been open for nearly four hours. It shows very fresh aromas of fresh cut grass, rose hips, herbs, and some wet hay sitting in mud. It's a little stinky, but pretty interesting and very smooth and linear in aromatic texture. Palate texture is medium bodied and smooth. Moderate acid hits with flavors primarily of an herb salad, with plenty of greens. Some light raspberry notes here too, and moderate tannins are present throughout. Smooth finish with acid and tannins initially, and you first just get the lovely texture, but then heavy herbal green flavors come up rapidly. It's definitely not as lovely as the 2007 yet, but I'm now back to the opinion that it could continue to improve towards that direction. This is so much more enjoyable than just 1 year ago, so it seems to be softening quickly. The biggest delta is the chunky texture from a year ago and these days it's is impressively smooth already.
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PnP out of the cellar...first of 6 bottles. Deep purple in color. Nose shows aromas of raspberry and plum, with a tangy note of orange rind. The palate reveals a med bodied wine with a moderate level of astringent tannins and lively, med+ acidity. Fresh fruit flavors, with tension and brightness, riding the bridge between tartness and ripeness. Shows nice soil signature, in the absence of oak. Quite delicious food wine, it is drinking nicely now and will improve another few years in bottle, and drink well through 2019 or so. Upside potential of 90 pts.
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I think this has improved since my previous bottle over a year ago. While still leathery, it is a bit less pronounced and more integrated into the wine. Otherwise, nicely fruity with medium to full tannin. Still not my favorite, with the leathery overtone, but reaching acceptable drinking conditions.
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Decanted. Nose of black pepper with a touch of barnyard. On the palate, some hollow black fruit with lots of pepper. This wine has not improved much since my last tasting. It feels very tight. Tastes of youth. I'm hoping this improves over time. Will wait another couple of years for the next bottle.
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A nice bottle that had softened greatly with less green notes than a bottle had a year ago. Very subtle with some great tannin and structure. Would love to have more to see how it ages.
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Nose: Meh….funky kale Palate: Acute leathery slap to the mid-palate with herb finish. The Beeeher’s cheddar was nice though :) Summary: 2 left in my cellar, anyone want them?
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Has improved since tasting a year ago. Nose has opened up; cedar, pomegranate, minerals; body has softened; decent fruit; good flavor; a little short. w/cheeses or meat with light sauces.
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After the wonderful 2007 of this wine I decided to go in for a case+ of this, and this is my first exploration. The wine has now been in the glass for an hour. The aromas are fairly pleasant, offering notes of graphite, sweet red bell peppers, the skin of a green zucchini, and a bit of appealing hospital adhesive. The palate is light in body, though chunky, and doesn't offer up much in terms of depth, showing some fairly lean fruit, some red peppers, and light to moderate tannins. Aeration causes this to get slightly frothy. Some spice and a dial up of green intensity marks the finish, without much fruit throughout the wine. It's really not too enjoyable. If I tried before I bought, I wouldn't have bought a single bottle, let alone a case... I hope this makes a turn. I had the 2007 6 years after harvest, and this is at just 3, so maybe there's hope for it yet... somehow I doubt it will improve to where I had hoped, though.
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Quite a lot of leather on this when opened, which diminished somewhat after decanting. After that, it was quite good, with dark fruit, herbal notes, tannin. Went nicely with lamb. Overall, not bad, but I'm hoping time improves them a bit to make a more balanced wine. Leather is not my favorite note in a wine, so this may be a personal preference thing.
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A poor man's Baudry (literally), this is on the lightish side and young at the moment, but still very enjoyable. Unmistakable cab franc profile, tannic and green, but very nice to drink with almost any meal. A direct comparison with Baudry Les Granges is probably the most meaningful, and in that regard, I'd say this is a bit redder to Les Granges darker profile, but Les Granges is much more fruit forward and gulpable, while this is more structured. But are quite good for relatively early drinking. A steal at $14.
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Mid-dark garnet; sharp Cabernet Franc nose; minerals, hard-boiled eggs, wood, brambles; mid-body; tight; tannic edges; a little sour on the finish. needs a little time to soften. w/barbecued pork.
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Young, tight, and fairly closed. Decant for the foreseeable future; the bottle improved dramatically the longer it sat in the decanter. Green earth, slightly tart cherry, spicy red currant, black fruits, and some manageable oak, all underscored with a firm tannic structure. Good finish. Needs time, but seems to have some upside potential. Good QPR at $14.
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Very youthful and a little unidimensional with black olives dominating both nose and palate. Mouthfeel improved considerably on day two. Will let my second bottle rest for a while.
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Decanted. Purple in the glass. Loads of black pepper on the nose, follows through on the palate. Joined with the black pepper comes a black-fruited tail section, somewhat masked by firm tannins and a bit of heat and earth. Texture is nice. Hold for a bit... should improve with some cellar time.
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7/25/2021 - gris Likes this wine: 88 Points
Nice with a chill, but a bit horsey on nose. More interesting on day one; softened out a great deal the next day.
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11/21/2020 - jsherdc wrote: 86 Points
Very thin. Slightly ether day 2, but then fell apart
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11/11/2020 - drrobvino wrote: 90 Points
Last of 6 bottles. Delicious
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9/13/2019 - jsherdc Likes this wine: 90 Points
Light. And tasty. 89/90
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7/15/2019 - drdebs Likes this wine: 89 Points
I just love lightly chilled Cab Franc with a burger in the summer and this one perfectly fit the bill. Great price point. Not too green or stemmy. Perfect.
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6/15/2019 - drrobvino wrote: 90 Points
5th bottle of 6 purchased.
Uber delicious Cab Franc, enjoyed at the end of the night.
Drink now through 2020+.
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10/19/2018 - sdwineguru wrote: flawed
Corked.
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6/5/2018 - RichD2 wrote: 81 Points
Deep red color. Nice fruit on the nose but fairly drying tannins at this point in its life. I am not sure this wine can redeem itself with further aging.
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6/1/2018 - drrobvino wrote: 88 Points
Nice Cab Franc, with aromas and flavors of earth and some manure, with plum and black cherry as well. Drinking well now, through 2020+.
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5/12/2018 - Richard123 wrote: flawed
Threw away my last two. Not sure if they were flawed or just poorly made, but way too much animal/horse for balance.
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3/29/2018 - sdwineguru Likes this wine: 89 Points
Mid-brick; evolving smokey earthy wood nose; mid-body; smooth; easy drinking; long soft fruity finish. Starting to fade. Great value appetizer wine.
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7/8/2017 - jsherdc Likes this wine: 89 Points
Much better than 3 years ago, especially with 1 hour air. Funky. Cranberry/cherry. Light but tasty.
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6/23/2017 - sdwineguru Likes this wine: 88 Points
Keeps opening up with time. Pepper, spice nose; mid-body; good fruit extract; long fruity finish. w/ribs
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6/2/2017 - wmccone54 wrote: 89 Points
This wine seems to finally be in a good place; significant improvement over the prior bottles drank in both 2013 and 2015. With a short decant, it opened with smoky, and earthy aromatics followed by spicy, red currant; tart cherry; leafy tobacco; dusty earth; and some chewy, but manageable tannin. Tannin and acidity support a long finish. Paired very well with baked salmon topped with pesto infused bread crumbs. Drinking well at present and should cellar well for another 5+ years.
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8/16/2016 - drdebs Likes this wine: 88 Points
Lovely, not too stemmy. Perfect for grilled sausages!
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8/13/2016 - drrobvino wrote: 89 Points
Tasty, brought with me to a seminar in Houston, to sip from in the evenings.
Earthy with some leather and tart black cherry flavors, with quite a presence of rustic tannins, supported by tense acidity.
Drink now through 2021+. Very nice value.
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2/17/2016 - drrobvino wrote: 90 Points
Tasty Cab Franc. No formal TN but delicious earthiness, black fruits, med+ refreshing acidity, a solid wine. Drink now through 2020.
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1/26/2016 - Ideasthatstick Likes this wine:
I like it a lot. It represents cab franc wonderfully. I think much criticism of this is rooted in how foreign the grape is. What's nice about this bottle is how true to cab franc it is. Is there something better? I suppose, but once again if removed from our pedestals of choice, I think notes about this would be more forgiving. There is a rough (read: good) edge to the wine. It is not "clean" but is it the work of a winemaker somewhere in central France making wine. If I were in central France drinking this I would be at once comforted (local) and challenged because this bottle has terroir, it has character and while it is not a Bordeaux nor a Burgundy of "heavy" note, it is a wine, a fine one at that, that represents just where the winemaker, the varietal and the vintage were at. And to my taste, that is a really good place.
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10/12/2015 - ryestraw wrote:
This is one of the best sub-$15 bottle of wine I have had. Really nice.
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9/17/2015 - wmccone54 wrote: 87 Points
A solid bottle of wine with a good QPR at less than $15. Notes consistent with my prior notes a year ago: lots of green and slightly musty earthiness, spicy currant, dry, tart cherry, dark bitter chocolate, and firm but manageable tannins, with a fair amount of complexity, and acidity. Very Old World style, so plan on decanting as aeration will improve the experience. Enjoy with food.
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9/7/2015 - tmoritz1 wrote: 87 Points
Bright tasting-m ay be a bit to hot Medium tannins with well blended dried fruit flavors--Decent finish ok but nothing special
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6/5/2015 - sdwineguru Likes this wine: 88 Points
Moving up with age. Mid-dark garnet; ripe grape nose; jam; plum; minerals; fellow taster said "iodine" but I didn't get it; mid-body; tight tannins, acids; good flavor after that. Needs a little more time. w/BBQ chicken.
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5/29/2015 - David Paris (dbp) wrote: 88 Points
I'm very happy this wine is showing way better than it did a year ago. I loved the '07 so I bought a case+ of this wine and didn't enjoy that first bottle. In hopes they improved, I had originally decided to let these sleep for a while at the back of the cellar, but for space reasons and the low cost I decided to instead start popping them. This bottle has been open for nearly four hours. It shows very fresh aromas of fresh cut grass, rose hips, herbs, and some wet hay sitting in mud. It's a little stinky, but pretty interesting and very smooth and linear in aromatic texture. Palate texture is medium bodied and smooth. Moderate acid hits with flavors primarily of an herb salad, with plenty of greens. Some light raspberry notes here too, and moderate tannins are present throughout. Smooth finish with acid and tannins initially, and you first just get the lovely texture, but then heavy herbal green flavors come up rapidly. It's definitely not as lovely as the 2007 yet, but I'm now back to the opinion that it could continue to improve towards that direction. This is so much more enjoyable than just 1 year ago, so it seems to be softening quickly. The biggest delta is the chunky texture from a year ago and these days it's is impressively smooth already.
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5/4/2015 - drrobvino wrote: 88 Points
PnP out of the cellar...first of 6 bottles.
Deep purple in color. Nose shows aromas of raspberry and plum, with a tangy note of orange rind.
The palate reveals a med bodied wine with a moderate level of astringent tannins and lively, med+ acidity. Fresh fruit flavors, with tension and brightness, riding the bridge between tartness and ripeness. Shows nice soil signature, in the absence of oak. Quite delicious food wine, it is drinking nicely now and will improve another few years in bottle, and drink well through 2019 or so. Upside potential of 90 pts.
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4/1/2015 - Richard123 Likes this wine: 88 Points
I think this has improved since my previous bottle over a year ago. While still leathery, it is a bit less pronounced and more integrated into the wine. Otherwise, nicely fruity with medium to full tannin. Still not my favorite, with the leathery overtone, but reaching acceptable drinking conditions.
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4/1/2015 - Richard123 wrote: flawed
Slightly cloudy and smelled of cardboard...
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3/2/2015 - BigWineMan wrote: 87 Points
Decanted. Nose of black pepper with a touch of barnyard. On the palate, some hollow black fruit with lots of pepper. This wine has not improved much since my last tasting. It feels very tight. Tastes of youth. I'm hoping this improves over time. Will wait another couple of years for the next bottle.
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2/6/2015 - mfkantor wrote: 89 Points
A nice bottle that had softened greatly with less green notes than a bottle had a year ago. Very subtle with some great tannin and structure. Would love to have more to see how it ages.
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2/3/2015 - celestialmundane Likes this wine: 85 Points
2nd day. Nose: cedar, maybe a little medical adhesive tape. A bit thin. The aggressive tannins of Day 1 have subsided. Short finish.
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1/16/2015 - FruitFly Does not like this wine: 85 Points
Nose: Meh….funky kale
Palate: Acute leathery slap to the mid-palate with herb finish. The Beeeher’s cheddar was nice though :)
Summary: 2 left in my cellar, anyone want them?
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12/29/2014 - sdwineguru wrote: 87 Points
Has improved since tasting a year ago. Nose has opened up; cedar, pomegranate, minerals; body has softened; decent fruit; good flavor; a little short. w/cheeses or meat with light sauces.
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11/1/2014 - Easter Everywhere wrote: flawed
corked
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9/29/2014 - jsherdc wrote: 85 Points
Stinky. Not much fruit initially. The pickle juice mellows a bit with air. I suspect it will be better day 2.
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7/14/2014 - David Paris (dbp) wrote: 85 Points
After the wonderful 2007 of this wine I decided to go in for a case+ of this, and this is my first exploration. The wine has now been in the glass for an hour. The aromas are fairly pleasant, offering notes of graphite, sweet red bell peppers, the skin of a green zucchini, and a bit of appealing hospital adhesive. The palate is light in body, though chunky, and doesn't offer up much in terms of depth, showing some fairly lean fruit, some red peppers, and light to moderate tannins. Aeration causes this to get slightly frothy. Some spice and a dial up of green intensity marks the finish, without much fruit throughout the wine. It's really not too enjoyable. If I tried before I bought, I wouldn't have bought a single bottle, let alone a case... I hope this makes a turn. I had the 2007 6 years after harvest, and this is at just 3, so maybe there's hope for it yet... somehow I doubt it will improve to where I had hoped, though.
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1/9/2014 - Richard123 wrote: 87 Points
Quite a lot of leather on this when opened, which diminished somewhat after decanting. After that, it was quite good, with dark fruit, herbal notes, tannin. Went nicely with lamb. Overall, not bad, but I'm hoping time improves them a bit to make a more balanced wine. Leather is not my favorite note in a wine, so this may be a personal preference thing.
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1/9/2014 - cadamson wrote: flawed
corked
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12/30/2013 - Enfant sauvage Likes this wine:
A poor man's Baudry (literally), this is on the lightish side and young at the moment, but still very enjoyable. Unmistakable cab franc profile, tannic and green, but very nice to drink with almost any meal. A direct comparison with Baudry Les Granges is probably the most meaningful, and in that regard, I'd say this is a bit redder to Les Granges darker profile, but Les Granges is much more fruit forward and gulpable, while this is more structured. But are quite good for relatively early drinking. A steal at $14.
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12/30/2013 - sdwineguru wrote: 86 Points
Mid-dark garnet; sharp Cabernet Franc nose; minerals, hard-boiled eggs, wood, brambles; mid-body; tight; tannic edges; a little sour on the finish. needs a little time to soften. w/barbecued pork.
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12/13/2013 - wmccone54 wrote: 87 Points
Young, tight, and fairly closed. Decant for the foreseeable future; the bottle improved dramatically the longer it sat in the decanter. Green earth, slightly tart cherry, spicy red currant, black fruits, and some manageable oak, all underscored with a firm tannic structure. Good finish. Needs time, but seems to have some upside potential. Good QPR at $14.
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9/3/2013 - danielbleier Likes this wine: 89 Points
Candied cherry, black pepper, asian spice.
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8/20/2013 - Firefly78 wrote: 87 Points
Very youthful and a little unidimensional with black olives dominating both nose and palate. Mouthfeel improved considerably on day two. Will let my second bottle rest for a while.
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8/9/2013 - BigWineMan wrote: 88 Points
Decanted. Purple in the glass. Loads of black pepper on the nose, follows through on the palate. Joined with the black pepper comes a black-fruited tail section, somewhat masked by firm tannins and a bit of heat and earth. Texture is nice. Hold for a bit... should improve with some cellar time.
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