2017 Château Carsin Cabernet Franc Amfora

Community Tasting Notes (1) Avg Score: 86 points

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  11/11/2021 - forceberry wrote: 86 Points

  In 2017 Château Carsin started to experiment with amphorae, making two amphorae reds, Cabernet Franc and Carménère. This organically farmed Cabernet Franc is sourced from a 40-yo Saint Nicolas vineyard in Entre-Deux-Mers, fermented and macerated with the skins in amphorae, then pressed and aged for 12 months in amphorae until bottling. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. 13,5% alcohol. Tasted blind.
  
  Youthful, almost completely opaque blackish-red color with a youthful, purplish hue. Clean, quite ripe and fruity nose with aromas of sweet dark berries, some fresh and crunchy blueberries and chokeberries, a little bit of sappy herbal spice, light leafy tones, a hint of inky character and a touch of burnt dog hair. The wine is ripe and silky-textured yet fresh and sappy on the palate with a quite full body and bright, clean flavors of ripe dark berries, some sappy herbal tones, a little bit of crunchy chokeberry, light sweet notes of black cherries, a solar hint of almost jammy dark fruit and a touch of something vaguely smoky. The overall feel is rather soft and gentle, thanks to the quite modest acidity and very ripe, friendly tannins. The finish is rich, juicy and sweetly-fruited with rather long flavors of juicy dark berries, some soft black cherries, a little bit of borderline jammy dark fruit, a hint of sappy herbal spice and a touch of leafy character.
  
  With its ripe, fruit-forward character and almost inky appearance, the wine comes across like an Argentinian Malbec from Mendoza, but it has a distinctively cooler-climate feel to it. So this was like a cool-climate Mendoza Malbec, if that makes sense. Although the wine exhibits some classic, leafy Cab Franc qualities, the overall feel didn't feel that much true to the variety, making the wine feel somewhat generic - sort of new world, but not in an overtly modernist kind of sense. The guesses started from Argentina and went through several new world countries; getting to Bordeaux took quite a while. All in all, this is an enjoyable but a bit linear and easy wine that really could use some structure - while the fruit department is quite nice here, the modest acidity and gentle tannins make the wine is lacking in structure. Feels a bit pricey for the quality at 30€.

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