2008 Edmunds St. John Cabernet Franc Bebame- USA, California, Sierra Foothills, El Dorado County (9/21/2009)
65% Cabernet Franc, 35% Gamay Noir. 13% above. This Loire style blend is made by Steve Edmunds of Edmunds St. John, and it shows. According to Michael Alberty, who sold the wine to me, “The Cabernet Franc hails from the Von Huewen Vineyard and the Gamay Noir is from the Witters Vineyard, a source known for producing great fruit for the Edmunds St. John Bone Jolly. Steve Edmunds takes the fruit and makes the Cabernet Franc and Gamay Noir separately before working out the blend with Don. They are fermented separately with native yeasts and then allowed to settle for four months in stainless steel tanks”.
The first sniff is intensely grapey, young Gamay. With a little air, the Cab Franc takes over. Dusty, chalky, deeply perfumed violets and cassis. On the palate, this is light to medium bodied, intensely juicy, and deliciously transparent. I tasted this last night while I was preparing dinner, and I didn’t love the first few sips. The juiciness was almost cloying without food. At the dinner table, it was positively slurpable. Not that I needed convincing, but this was yet another example to me of why the wines that stand out in tasting rooms and the wines that do best at the dinner table are often not the same. “Drink me” indeed.
Interesting stuff. Sounds like a nice combination of components. Seems so young for and ESJ and for cab franc. I wonder what it will be like when some of that juiciness tones down.
Peter, you probably won’t see it unless you are living in California or Oregon. 261 cases were made and 56 of those were left behind in California. The rest came up here to Portland. There is an outside chance 56 cases might go to NYC, but nothing is firmed up yet.
I tried this Friday evening and it reminded me of Clos Roche Blanche’s Closerie blend of similar grapes from the Touraine, without the cot and whatever else might be in that bottling. Maybe a bit softer structurally, but still very interesting. There’s great soil character in the wine. As you find in young released Chinon or Bourgeuil, the cab franc here is all about juicy fruit for early consumption. Nice job Steve and Don.
The accent marks were left off on purpose. Don and Steve originally wanted to name the wine “Drink Me.” But the feds said now way, you can’t have anything on your label that advocates drinking alcohol. Go figure. So they shifted to Spanish. But the feds also have a regulation asking you to supply a translation if you use a foreign word on your label. Accent marks went bye-bye and evidently the feds’ Spanish translator was out of the office that day. From what I have been told, bébame v. `bébeme’ depends on how formal you want to get.