We are hosting a cabernet franc tasting in some weeks. The goal is to set up top cabernet franc wines from all around the world against eachother. However I have noticed it is not that easy to find top wines made from cabernet franc alone. For example Paleo, magnacosta, several red loire wine (clos rougeard, baudry,…), pride cabernet franc come to mind but I asume we’re just not aware of most top wines.
therefore my questions: which top wines should certainly be on the list and are there any wines that could give Loire Cabernet Francs a run for their money?
while a different “style” of cab franc, for sure, i have to say that I’ve been pretty smitten with Detert’s CF. I think it successfully rides that line between new world ripeness with old world flavors. That said, I haven’t had the chance to open their current '12 CF (my fave from them is their '08).
Without knowing where you are located or if you’re ITB it’s hard to make suggestions about sourcing, and depending upon what you want to charge per head even some ‘top’ wines like Clos Rougeard may be cost-prohibitive.
For CA I would keep in mind Lang & Reed and Crocker-Starr from Napa.
However, those wines are all out of my price range. Or at least the first two certainly are and the third is fairly scarce and rather pricey as well. For Loire its hard to go wrong with Baudry, Breton and Joguet.
Yeah, but on name and bringing something very unique to the table I’d think it would be a welcome addition to any tasting. Anything with a larger CF component made in BDX?
As someone said, RAATS makes a good cab franc from SA. So does Chamonix, although I haven’t a clue if it will be available in Belgium.
Also, I’m fairly certain that there are 100% Cab Franc wines in Bordeaux, even if they aren’t as famous. Chat. de Pitray, for example, has a 100% Cab Franc.
Along those lines, I believe the Paumanok Cabernet Franc Grand Vintage is the best example in that area. For Long Island, I believe his Cabernet Franc shows the best.
Jeff Leve posted somewhere on this site a Bordeaux that is 100% cab franc.
RAATs is quite nice, shows the Cab Franc characteristics that I adore. I have not found any from the U.S. That really work for me.
For the OP, get a representative showing from all the Cab Franc little regions in Loire, such as Chinon, Saumur and Bourgueil. If you wanna get real geeky, find some Franc de Pieds to toss in.
