What Cab Franc can you recommend that are currently available from online merchants in the $20-$40 range. I am primarily interested in Loire but willing to try Tuscany, CA, and WA.
The 2009 Chinons from Bernard Baudry are great, running about the length of your price range. The Les Grezeaux is terrific in the $20s; you’ll see a number of glowing tasting notes on this board from this year with a quick search. The 2005s from Baudry were great also and now more mature, though I’m not sure how easily you’d find them.
You can’t go wrong with Baudry.
However, an interesting option is the 2002 Olga Raffault Picasses. I believe it’s a recent library release and there’s still a bit out there in the $25-$30 price range. It’s drinking beautifully and is a great value for a top drawer Cabernet Franc with some age on it. The 2005 Picasses is much more widely available at a price in the high teens to mid 20’s, and is also drinking quite well.
M @ r k M @ r c e ! ! u s
I have always enjoyed Chinons from Charles Jouget (all are good, the Varennes du Grand Clos Cuvee Franc de Pied is special) and Bourgeuils from Jacques Druet (Grand Monts is my favorite).
Catherine & Pierre Breton should be among your considerations.
Stryker makes a consistently good one in this price range.
Cabernet Franc Sodarock Sonoma County 2007 - was my favorite wine in this Sonoma County Harvest fair.
Hook and Ladder 2009 was also very great capture of the wine at the Harvest fair - I believe it was below $20
Imagery makes a very good one
Are there Tuscan Cab Francs? If so, are there any under $40?
Yes there are. Under $40?
Yannick Amirault is another great producer of Loire cab frank, squarely in your price range. The “La Coudraye” bottling has always been good.
I’d suggest with Loire cab franc to start with the best vintages, like 05 and 09. In those vintages, you get beautiful pure berry fruit, with pleasing but not excessive notes of herb and green veggies. In the leaner vintages, the wines are still good, but I think most people (especially upon first exploring the grape and region) would find the mixture to be too much of the latter and not enough of the former.
I like new world cab franc as well, but I usually find it’s a very small bottling that you only find at the winery, and not many (or at least many good ones) are bottled for widespread distribution. Peachy Canyon in Paso Robles makes a pretty good one in the $20s.
Robert, I looked on the WS database, and it showed no Italian cab franc wines at all. Though of course there is cab franc grown in Italy, so it’s probably all blended into cabernets or merlots, or other proprietary blends, or at least not in a wine labeled as being cabernet franc.
Tuscany Cabernet Franc-95 wines listed on CT
Baudry in the Loire.
Cadence from Washington.
Angelus from Bordeaux.
If you give into CA and do not mind parting with $10 additional, try Larkin. I really like his wines and his Cab Franc rocks.
Here’s a list of wines (no pricing filter)
Virage.
Best I’ve ever had.
I just took the plunge for a case of 2009 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Les Grézeaux from Chambers St. and will probably get another case or so of a few more selections based on forum recommendatons.
Someone makes a big money super-Tuscan Cab Franc. I feel like its Macchiole Paleo? I checked CT which shows BDX blend, but I seem to recall seeing it written up as Cab Franc. Could be thinking of something else though.
For me, new world cab franc almost always shows too ripe. The producers listed here are a good group, and Baudry in particular is excellent. Joguet is another to try.
Wow, a full case? I do think it’s an excellent wine, worthy of aging, and one of the best QPR values out there at the moment, but that’s a pretty bold step based on some internet recommendations. Particularly considering that Loire cab franc isn’t exactly a mainstream wine with broad appeal.
Anyways, I hope you like it as much as I do. Please report back when you try your first one.
Bold is in my blood and I don’t give a fig for mainstream or broad appeal. I should enjoy its evolution over the next 12-20 years if I am lucky enough to be around that long. It will arrive next week and I will let it rest 6-8 weeks before trying it. I will post a TN then.
This made me curious. 95 Tuscan Cab Francs? Really? I found that hard to believe - but then, I tend to forget that Maremma is part of Tuscany.
The way I read it, and not counting different vintages of the same wine, there are 18 wines listed on CT as Tuscan Cabernet Franc.
Several are not:
- Il Canasciale contains no Cab Franc. It is 100% Caberlot - a mutation of Cabernet Sauvignon that, as its name implies, combines the characteristics of Cabernet and Merlot.
- Castelvecchio does makes a varietal Cabernet Franc from DOC Carso - in the Friuli region, not in Tuscany.
- Collosoroti appears to be a Tuscan Cab Franc.
- Deumani Duemani is, indeed, both Tuscan and 100% Cab Franc.
- Felciatello Bibo is a Tuscan Cab Franc.
- Azienda Agricola Forestale Rigoloccio makes a Tuscan Cab Franc called “Rosato.”
- Foglio 38 is Tuscan and 100% Cab Franc.
- Francesco Kovarich’s (Poggiofoco) Sesa is 30% Cab Franc.
- Guado al Tasso Matarocchio is 100% Cab Franc from Tuscany.
- Il Palazzone’s ‘Lorenzo & Isabelle’ is 60% Cab Franc, 38% Sangiovese, and 2% Petit Verdot.
- Le Macchiole Paleo is Tuscan and 100% Cab Franc. (It also sells for something north of $100).
- Piaggia Poggio de’ Colli is Tuscan and 100% Cab Franc.
- Castello Poggiarello Collerosso is a 50-50 blend of Cab Franc and Merlot.
- Poggio al Tesoro Dedicato a Walter is 100% Tuscan Cab Franc.
- Poggio de Colli Chianti Colli Fiorentini is, if the internet (vinopedia.com) is to be believed, 100% Cab Franc - but that would violate the Chianti DOCG requirements and it couldn’t be labeled ‘Chianti Fiorentini’. A mystery.
- San Patrignano Paratino is Tuscan and 100% Cab Franc.
- Vignamaggio ‘Vignamaggio’ is Tuscan and 100% Cab Franc.
- Villa Pillo Vivaldaia is 100% Tuscan Cab Franc.
Five debunked, one a mystery, twelve confirmed. That’s a lot more than I expected.
Live and learn.
It’s hard to go wrong with Baudry, Breton, and Foucault (Clos Rougeard).