​

100% Cabernet Franc, estate-grown grapes

Velvety smooth with notes of red plum, pomegranate, and raspberry, hint of vanilla

Unfined; unfiltered

​

How is it?  In the glass it has a deep red color - - not as inky as a ripe cabernet or merlot but more similar to a ripe merlot.  On the nose, it is 'woody and earthy' with traces of mint, dark red cherry, violet and cardamom. 

​

On the palate, the core is red plum, a mid-range fruitiness that is just plain delicious.  Other notes include pomegranate, raspberry and ‘plum-cherry’; mixed-berry pie.   The wine has a very soft velvety mouth-feel.  It has well-integrated French oak that imparts a vanilla hint to the flavor profile.

​

Lenz has had cabernet franc vines since the early 1980s, making some our cab franc vines 40 years old.  We too have generally used it as a blending component in our merlots and our cabernets.  Until 2017.  In that year, Thomas Spotteck, our winemaker, made a 100% varietal cabernet franc from super-ripe grapes.  It was delicious.  Sadly, there wasn’t a great deal of it and it rapidly sold out.  Based on the vineyard ripening conditions in 2018, we elected not to make a varietal cabernet franc.  But in 2019 we did.

​

Interestingly, these cab francs were barrel-fermented.  This is unusual.  Why?  Because red wines are almost always fermented in stainless steel tanks, using the entire grape, including the skins, seeds and pulp.  If you put all that inside a small oak barrel, it’s almost impossible to get all the solids out.  But not if you take one end off the barrel, stand it on its other end and ferment in the (now) open-ended barrel.  This fermentation technique allows control over the process while adding softness and complexity to the resulting wine.

​

GENERAL NOTES

Cabernet franc or ‘cab franc’ as it’s often called, is traditionally used as a blending grape; this is true in the US as well as in France.  Most varietal cabernet franc wines can be somewhat forgettable.  One glorious exception is Chateau Cheval Blanc, in Saint-Emilion, whose primary wine is a blend containing about 50% cabernet franc and 45% merlot (the rest is cabernet sauvignon). 

 

Interesting Fact:  Ch Cheval Blanc is the wine that Paul Giamotti drinks in the burger joint in the movie Sideways.  Ironic considering he slams merlot and cab franc throughout the movie!

​

The challenge with cab franc is that, like all red gapes only more-so, it must be fully-ripened to reveal all its glory.  Varietal red wines from cab franc grapes that are anything less than fully ripened, will have an one-dimensional end-product that tastes OK but doesn’t have any kind of ‘Wow!’ factor.  It will also be relatively tannic with a short finish.

​

But if you do fully ripen it: Wow!!

Please tell us what you think!