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Project Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc needs no introduction; I suspect most wine drinkers know the variety well, after all it is one of the big three red varieties that dominate Bordeaux (although it is certainly 'third-place' in the trio), and it seems to get on quite well elsewhere, especially the Loire, and also further afield in California and Niagara. But how many of us really know Cabernet Franc? This latter question was one addressed at a recent meeting and tasting for the Institute of Masters of Wine chaired by Sam Harrop MW (below left), with the able assistance of Richard Kelley MW (below right). As Project Cabernet Franc specifically concerns the variety in the Loire appellations, Richard Kelley opened with a fascinating talk on the history, geology and climate of the Loire Valley, and I have woven some of the data he presented into the text below. Then Sam Harrop enlightened the attendees as to the story behind the project, and his approach to the variety and its wines, while we tasted through ten exemplars of Cabernet Franc (although in truth one turned out to be a Malbec), all products of the project.

Returning to my first point, I suspect only a minority of wine drinkers really know Cabernet Franc. When asked of the variety the Bordeaux-centric wine writer will naturally push you in the direction of Cheval-Blanc, where this variety dominates the vineyard. But tasting a blend merely dominated by the variety is a poor substitute for the real thing, and the price of Cheval-Blanc today somewhat precludes this experiment anyway. Look further afield, however, and you will find in the Loire an extensive vineyard where in places Cabernet Franc rules in isolation, where it is not considered a mere bit-player in a blend. This is perhaps Cabernet Franc's true home; legend has it that the variety was selected by Cardinal Richelieu and introduced to the vineyard at the Abbaye de St Nicolas de Bourgueil by an abbot named Breton, which perhaps explains why Breton remains a local synonym for the variety. There are references to it in ancient documents, dated as far back as 1152, whereas references to Cabernet Sauvignon do not appear until several centuries later. This is only natural; genetic studies at UC Davis have shown conclusively that Cabernet Sauvignon is the result of a crossing between Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc, so Franc could perhaps be considered the original Cabernet, father to the more famous Sauvignon. And this original Cabernet is best experienced in the Loire, in the wines of Chinon, Saumur, Bourgueil and Touraine.

Although capable of great wine, the variety has its detractors. And they make some good points, namely that the wines can be under-ripe or herbaceously green; they argue that this is perhaps because the Loire is just too far north for the variety in question. And even with ripe fruit there can still persist an unusually vegetal character in the wine, aromas and flavours of capsicum, celery or celeriac, herbs and more. This is perhaps part of the Loire's problems today. Traditionally the region has sent its red wines eastward to the bistros of Paris, and when exported the wines most frequently come to the UK. But the region's markets seem to be dwindling, unsurprising against a backdrop of crisis for French wine, partly because of stiff competition from foreign products. And so in 2005 InterLoire, the official body for the wines of Anjou-Saumur and Touraine, contracted Sam Harrop MW as a consultant. His brief was clear; develop wines of consistent quality, keep true to the terroir, and increase the region's share in key export markets. Project Cabernet Franc is not concerned with the variety's illustrious history and standing; it is about the future, about making wines for modern consumers, survival in a tough market, and ultimately profitability.

Harrop, who is a New Zealander by birth and did much of his early training at Villa Maria, developed a project protocol which lay down some guidance for interested viticulteurs. I am sure some vignerons were disinterested, some reluctant, perhaps some were offended, but this is an opt-in project and Harrop began to work with the more forward, open-minded and enthusiastic viticulteurs who signed up to it. The protocol is largely common sense for good vinification, but Harrop used it largely as a stepping stone to encouraging thought, analysis, change and improvement, rather than insisting on adherence to its recipe-card format. There were still difficulties, however, as Harrop illustrated by recounting the tale of a debate with a vigneron who argued that the greenness in his wine was down to terroir, whereas Harrop felt it was clearly the typically unripe harvest of the region.

This last point is interesting, as Harrop talked us through his view of Cabernet Franc. I was slightly surprised to hear him promulgate the herbal and green character of Cabernet Franc as an attractive and desirable feature of the wine. He made a distinction between herbaceousness, the green character that comes from the picking of unripe fruit by anxious vignerons who have seen the latest bad weather forecast, and the aforementioned vegetal characteristics - the herbs and celeriac - which are marks of the variety and which, importantly, distinguish the red wines of the Loire from those of any other variety or region. I suppose this is one view of the wines of the region, although it is not one I wholeheartedly subscribe to myself. Visit Bernard Baudry, Philippe Alliet or François-Xavier Barc at Charles Joguet and it won't, on the whole, be herby-green wines that you find. Yes, it is there in many vintages, as a bitter complexity which I savour, but it is not what I am seeking in the wines. Instead, I think it is the mineral purity that draws me towards these wines; in fact I think Cabernet Franc is a very good translator of terroir and this is something I enjoy about the variety. In Chinon, for instance, wines from sandy and gravelly terroirs are very different from the tuffeau wines. Other terroirs seem to have a similar effect; the very first wine in the line up below reeked of schist, the nose having much in common with wines from schistous terroirs in the Languedoc that I have tasted. Indeed, on reviewing the fiche technique I saw that the wine originated from a vineyard of Briovérien schist. Nevertheless, perhaps my approach to the issue of the herby-green character of Loire Cabernet Franc is completely wrong. Harrop isn't working predominantly with top flight producers like those above; he is working with small growers, many with names new to me, and also co-operatives. Reviewing his protocol, the project seems to be about moving from wines that disappoint to ones that please, rather than making already great wines even greater. So am I just looking in the wrong place? Or rather, are Harrop and I just looking in different places? To illustrate my point further, take two recent successful vintages, 2003 and 2005. I think the red wines of these two years can be fabulous, wines that are ripe but still identifiably Cabernet Franc, still translating the minerality of the soil, and thus typical of the Loire. But to Harrop warm vintage wines can be atypical, losing the green characters he is looking for. Harrop's comment (I'm paraphrasing here) that in warmer vintages he sometimes prefers the wines of co-operatives because they tend to harvest earlier, and therefore they don't lose the herby-vegetal character amongst the ripe fruit, was a crystallising moment for me. He and I clearly have different views on what is most important in Loire Cabernet Franc.

So onto the wines; the tasting was divided into two sessions, the first being a seated tasting led by Harrop of ten Ambassadors, as the wines are called. The wines presented ranged from generic Anjou and Touraine through to the more noble appellations of Chinon, St Nicolas de Bourgueil, Bourgueil and Saumur-Champigny. Red wines from outside the sphere of InterLoire's influence are naturally excluded, so no red Sancerre. You might imagine that such a wine would be automatically excluded anyway, being Pinot Noir rather than Cabernet Franc, but perhaps not. One of the ten below was made from Cot (otherwise known as Malbec), a wine about which some people were raving, either because of its intrinsic qualities, or because of the potential of Malbec for the Loire Valley in general. I personally found it quite dull as a wine, but tastes are naturally personal. Nevertheless, Project Cabernet Franc is perhaps not so limited in its scope as its name may suggest. The wines tasted were the product of the 2008 judging, in which Sam Harrop led a team of three tasters, namely Jim Budd, Jamie Goode and Sam Caporn. My notes are below, arranged according to appellation (although I have retained the numbering too, for anyone who was at the tasting) rather than the order in which they were presented which seemed to have little logic to it, other than the mini-vertical from the Cave des Vignerons de Saumur at the end. I have included a few winemaking notes on soils, maceration, fermentation temperature and élevage, but not all the intricacies; I have notes on extraction, yeast strains used if that was the case, distribution, technical analysis and so on, so contact me if you are interested in these data. In part three I give my notes from the walk-round tasting of the remaining 24 wines. (7/10/08)

Project Cabernet Franc - Tasting Notes

Tasted in October 2008. Click to locate stockists.

Chateau de Putille Anjou 2007: Wine 1. No maceration, fermentation 25-30ºC, matured in stainless steel. A nose of minerally cherry-skin fruit here, rather schisty I think; it is indeed from a vineyard of Briovérien schist. Nice definition, bright, rather dark cherry character to the fruit, but stony rather than rich. Elegant, gentle and supple style on the palate, Nice acidity, fresh quite harmonious composition with very soft tannins, overall a quite appealing presence. I like this. I tasted this again in the walk-round tasting, and gave a consistent score. 15.5+/20

Chateau de Targé Saumur-Champigny 2006: Wine 4. Clay and limestone soils, no maceration, fermentation maximum 25ºC, no subsequent oak. A much more stony nose here, very strong in red fruit, especially raspberry, perhaps mulberry too? And a deeper more complex aroma, herbal notes, and a nuance of roasted tomato perhaps. A fairly supple and well polished palate, showing some textural depth, good fruit, and an appealing core of ripe tannins. It still has that little sundried tomato nuance, with a little smoky celery seed. And a little round of tannins on the finish. Gentle balanced acidity. This is nice wine. 16+/20

Domaine de Saint Just Saumur-Champigny 2007: Wine 5. Clay limestone soils, five-day maceration, fermentation 25ºC, stainless steel maceration.Plenty of fruit here, quite rich in style, although there is a fairly firm celery and celeriac note alongside which rather dominates the nose. Rounded and supple texture on the palate, but fresh with the rounded texture nicely balanced with precise acidity. There is plenty of substance here, and a nice depth, but it is very typical of the Loire and presents Cabernet Franc with all the herbal character to the fore. Good though. 15.5/20

Cave des Vignerons de Saumur Sélection Saumur-Champigny 2007: Wine 8. Clay limestone soils, three-day maceration, fermentation 23ºC, maturation in stainless steel.Light character on the nose, slippery red fruits with a very sandy character. Light, bright, chalky, red fruits on the palate too. It has a nice acid backbone, but limited concentration; it has freshness but is not a wine of weight, Crisply defined fruit, peppery character, firm and well structured. A decent wine, no more. 15/20

Cave des Vignerons de Saumur Sélection Saumur-Champigny 2006: Wine 9. Clay limestone soils, no maceration, fermentation 23ºC, maturation in stainless steel with micro-oxygenation. Red fruits, with an organic character, very slightly stalky perhaps, Nice depth, raspberry coulis, barely ripe blackberry. Quite diffuse entry, detached and a little lean and rather stony, with tomato-edged red fruit. Still with a little supple character though, bright and smoky character, with a ripe core of tannins. Lots of firm acidity too, The finish here is a little grippy and meaty. Good wine. 15.5/20

Cave des Vignerons de Saumur Sélection Saumur-Champigny 2005: Wine 10. Clay limestone soils, three-day maceration, fermentation maximum 25ºC, maturation in stainless steel for six months with micro-oxygenation. An experimental cuvée with the co-ops winemaker at the start of the project in the 2005 vintage. They get in every year - so he really does think co-ops are great. Interesting smoky nose, paprika, a little meaty even, complex, . Certainly interesting. Good texture on entry, warm and supple, but then on the midpalate showing a brighter acidity providing a very firm backbone. There is a herbal note too, roasted herbs, with a little depth and complexity, Very bright stony edge to finish. 16/20

Domaine de Bellevue Touraine Tradition 2007: Wine 7. From sand and silex soils over clay and limestone. Five-day maceration, fermentation 25-28ºC, élevage in vat. I find it rather ungiving on the nose, light and stony, perhaps rather metallic. This character comes through on the palate too - this is lean and simple, with a little talcy-chalky perfume, and it just sings Cot surely? Yes, I later learned during the talk that this is indeed Cot, or Malbec. Fresh, clean, with good acidity on the palate, to my mind this would make decent cafe drinking, but I don't find it hugely appealing otherwise. 14.5/20

Domaine du Petit Souper Bourgueil Vieilles Vignes 2007: Wine 2. Clay limestone soils, no maceration, fermentation 26ºC, stainless steel or concrete élevage. Less expressive than the first wine, quite perfumed aromas when it yields though, violets and a stony-chalky character too. Quite full on entry, but flattens out in the midpalate to reveal a gently perfumed, stony character. Good and fairly firm acidity, quite attractive and complete overall though. Firm and this should improve with a year or two in bottle I think. 15.5+/20

Domaine de Cotelleraie St Nicolas de Bourgueil 2006: Wine 6. Gravel soils, four-day cold maceration, fermentation 28ºC, élevage 50% in vat, 50% in two and three-year-old 228 litre medium-toast barrels from the Berthomieu cooperage. On the nose there is plenty of oak dominating, this is all toast, vanilla and minty chocolate; I thought this indicated very new oak, but Berthomieu barrels have a reputation for staying very oaky several years down the line, which explains their impact at two or three-years old. Tasted blind at this point this would never have made me think of the Loire. This all comes through in the palate, which has supple and plushly rounded fruit, lots of new oak evident, and a dark fruit character with more than a hint of jam. It has lovely acidity though. This is one to be left in the cellar and it is currently very difficult to judge - will the wine be able to absorb all this oak? 14+?/20

La Noblaie Chinon Les Chiens Chiens 2007: Wine 3. No maceration, fermentation 20-26ºC, élevage in five-year-old 450 litre barrels of varied provenance and toast. There is a mix of red and black fruits here, with a roasted-herb note too. Quite bright, fresh, just a streak of roasted green bell pepper which is subtle and not distracting and on returning to the wine it disappeared. Limestone minerality comes in later on. Lean entry, plenty of breadth in the midpalate, plenty of mineral fruit too, supple and mouth-watering style, Nice, appealing and fresh; this is a very handsome wine which will be great with food anytime now. 16+/20