My Most Memorable Cabernet Francs of 2023
What. A. Year.
If you had told me a year ago what my 2023 was going to end up being, I would've said that you've lost your marbles. As I reflect on how much I've accomplished this year, I cannot help but feel grateful for all the opportunities I've had, people I've met, friendships forged, wines tasted, and experience gained. I've learned so much this past year, and all of those learnings are contributing to an even more solid understanding of Cabernet Franc, and how I want to contribute more and help grow the conversation around the grape going forward.
A few highlights on the year:
In March I had the opportunity to be on Lenn Thompson's tasting panel for his annual Cabernet Franc Report covering wines from the northeast US. We tasted more than 70 Cabernet Francs from across New York state, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Virginia, which was a great learning experience for my palate. In a single day, I was able to get a bit of a sense of what was happening with Cab Franc across these regions, and some of the producers and regions to keep on my radar for future tasting opportunities.
In April, I travelled to London to receive (officially!) my WSET Diploma with hundreds of other incredible wine professionals and enthusiasts who successfully passed the gruelling certification.
In May, I had the pleasure of leading a Cabernet Franc-focused lunch for the Commanderie de Bordeaux chapter in Mexico City. You can read more about this experience in my post on the event. But reflecting on it even now, it still feels completely surreal. I learned so much about myself and about Cabernet Franc in preparation for and during this event, and it marked an important milestone on this journey in how I want to be thinking about the behemoth Bordeaux as it relates to Cabernet Franc.
Also in May, I taught a masterclass on Cabernet Franc with winemaker Brian Schmidt of Vineland Estates for the Finger Lakes Wine Alliance winery membership. Every year the Finger Lakes Wine Alliances chooses a grape of focus for a masterclass for the local industry to attend giving producers an opportunity to taste and learn about other regions and expressions of grape varieties that are also important varieties in the Finger Lakes. When it is all too common for a region to develop a bit of "cellar palate" I applaud the Finger Lakes Wine Alliance for taking the initiative to provide their membership this opportunity. Some fascinating discussion was had on what defines Finger Lakes Cabernet Franc and how to position it with consumers, and I'm quite excited about the potential for the region's Cabernet Francs into the future.
In June, I was invited to attend the first annual Cabernet Franc Symposium hosted by Château Jean Faure in St-Emilion. This event brought together for the first time producers from the Loire and Bordeaux, along with a host of experts on everything from ampelography, winemaking, viticulture, and beyond, for a full day of seminars, discussions and tastings focused on Cabernet Franc. I was humbled to rub shoulders with some of France's elite producers of Cabernet Franc throughout the day, and the whole event felt like a real celebration of the variety and all the greatness it has to offer. As part of this trip, I also took some time to visit a handful of producers that consider Cabernet Franc a core part of their DNA. Coverage of these visits and more on Bordeaux to come in 2024.
Over the course of the year, I have been fortunate to develop some special friendships with folks in the Cab Franc Chronicles community with whom I was able to improve my understanding of older Loire Valley Cabernet Franc through some tastings and meals together. My deepest heartfelt thanks to Sasha Katsman, Jayson Cohen, Don Rice, John Gilman, among others, who graciously shared wines from the cellars so that we could learn and experience how Loire Valley Cabernet Franc can improve, charm and delight with age.
This year I also led some fun consumer events with some great, independent wine shops including Winkler & Samuels in Buffalo, NY, Falls Wine Room in Ithaca, NY, and Dare Bottleshop & Provisions in Lenox, MA. Resources willing, I hope to do more of these in 2024. And to all my Ontario friends, I intend to do some events on home turf in 2024 as well, so stay tuned for that!
In addition to this, I still managed to produce 24 tasting videos for Instagram and wrote some posts here, albeit well short of what I had hoped to achieve. Since launching this project officially three years ago, the videos I make consume much more time in terms of research, preparation and recording, which has made it difficult to do a video a week, which was always my hope. So, for 2024, the goal is to upload a new video every other week, and this will be supplemented by more writing here and in my newsletter, which I'm excited to launch on January 5th. I hope to also do a few live streams during the year, to switch things up. Suffice it to say, there is lots to look forward in the year ahead. And, of course, there will continue to be weekly quizzes on Instagram, which I have been running every Wednesday for nearly 3 years. So, thank you to all those that come out every week for that!
If you've made it this far, thank you for your attention. :)
Now onto the task of choosing some of my most memorable wines from this past year from the hundreds of Cabernet Francs I've had the opportunity to taste. Not an easy task, folks! But here goes.
From the Loire Valley:
I recently posted to Instagram that if I had a contender for my Wine of the Year that it might very well be the 2022 Bourgueil ‘Côte 50’ from Yannick Amirault. Since enjoying my first bottle back in the spring, I've revisited this wine many many times, and it always delivers so much pleasure down to the last drop. From a warmer vintage, it shows some of the hallmarks of the "solar" nature of the vintage, with a plushness of fruit and exquisite, enveloping tannins, but with a great backbone of freshness and just the right amount of floral perfume for levity. This is the domaine's "early-drinking" cuvée, but this will definitely reward in the cellar. I intend to tuck a few aside to revisit in 3, 5, and - if I can show some restraint - 10 years. Looking forward to diving into more 2022s from the Loire as they get released.
Around this time last year, I tasted my first wine from Domaine des Closiers in Saumur-Champigny. I knew almost instantly that there was something special happening at this estate that I needed to see for myself first hand. In February, while on a brief jaunt to the Loire for their trade tasting salons, Anatole was kind enough to see me on a Saturday at the domaine so that I visit some of the vineyards and taste the wines. With their first vintage being 2019, it is still early days for this domaine, but the estate is quickly rising to the elite ranks in the appellation. I featured their early-drinking cuvée "Les Closiers" in a video in the spring, and is a great introduction to the domaine and their approach with Cabernet Franc.
In April, on the day of my WSET Diploma graduation, my mom and I indulged in a celebratory lunch at Noble Rot's Mayfair location, where we enjoyed the 2012 Saumur-Champigny ‘Le Marginale’ from Thierry Germain of Domaine des Roches Neuves. I've enjoyed older examples of Thierry's Franc de Pied and Les Mémoires, but up until this point, not Le Marginale. With 10 years in the in the bottle, the wine was in a gorgeous spot, beautifully integrated and just beginning to show some tertiary development. I enjoyed it with a most incredible Anjou pigeon for lunch, complemented by morel mushrooms, fresh green peas and lardons. Off the charts delicious. In a funny coincidence, I also enjoyed the 1995 Le Marginale a few days later at the same location (and it wasn’t on the list when I was there the first time), and it was excellent. This might be a new favourite cuvée of mine from the domaine.
2023 was the year of Lenoir. I had the pleasure of trying several vintages (including a 1979, 1989, 1991, 2005, 2010 and 2011) from this elusive producer in Chinon. Among the most memorable was the 1991, which I enjoyed with Humberto Herrera (a Lenoir "groupie" if there ever was one) an hour after arriving in Mexico City during at most epic lunch at Pujol . From a cooler, 'lighter' Loire vintage, the 1991 was drinking marvellously, with crystalline structure, tension, and loads of herbals undertones complemented by dried, red fruits. Fingers crossed that a visit to the domaine may be possible in 2024. These wines are unicorns, and I will admit that there can be some bottle variation and closure failures in some of the older vintages, so be wary of that if you see them in the wild. These issues appear to be resolved in more recent vintages from the 1990s and 2000s.
In another interesting coincidence, I had the pleasure of trying several wines from the now-extinct Bourgueil domaine of Pierre-Jacques Druet this past year - all in different scenarios, places and with different people - including a 1996 Vaumoreau, 1996 Fiefs de Louys, 1997 Les Cent Boisselées, and examples of Grand Mont from 1995, 1996 and 2000. I was particularly impressed with the ‘95 and ‘96 Grand-Mont, which is widely regarded as the “grand cru” site in Bourgueil if there ever was one. The fact that these wines are no longer being made adds a bit of emotional aspect and melancholy to the wine drinking experience, but they all have struck me in a particular way. They are just really honest, transparent wines that speak to a sense of place and time. I've tried to track down Monsieur Druet to learn more about his story, but to no avail. So for the moment, if I ever come across a bottle again, I will continue to appreciate them for the mythical, endangered wines they are.
Finally, at the dinner during the Cabernet Franc Symposium back in June, after a stellar line up of wines throughout the day, the grande finale was a 1944 Coteaux de l'Aubance Rosé de Cabernet from René Daviau. This appellation was the precursor to today's rosé appellation Cabernet d'Anjou, and would've been a sweet style of rosé (ranging from demi-sec to moelleux depending on the vintage) that would've been made to consume young, but as with all great sweet wines, has the ability to age. The 1944 vintage was the first René made in four years because of the war, and was poured at the celebrations if the liberation and end of World War II in 1945. This was my first time having a sweet rosé with this much age, and simply put, this was an absolutely remarkable wine. It showed notes of dried orange peel, wispy herbs and dried rose petals with a delicately honeyed perfume. As a lover of great sweet wines, I could've sat and drank that wine in quiet contemplation and appreciation for hours. Perfectly harmonious and still brimming with life and vitality, this was a "once in a lifetime" wine that I'm deeply grateful to have had the chance to experience.
From Bordeaux:
I kicked the year off with my first tasting video on a Cabernet Franc-based wine from Bordeaux - Jonathan Maltus's 2009 Le Dôme St-Emilion Grand Cru. As if to foreshadow the year ahead, this became the first of many more Cabernet Francs from Bordeaux in the months that followed, but this bottle remains near and dear to my heart. Not only did the wine show beautifully, with lots of Cabernet Franc energy (the grape is around 80% of the blend), but this video remains one of the ones I'm most proud of to date. To put a cherry on top of the sundae, in June I visited the estate and tasted with cellar master Neil Whyte and estate director Olivier Darcy, which became a fascinating meeting of minds and resulted in some great discussion on Cabernet Franc in Bordeaux and beyond.
As part of the dinner I lead in Mexico City, I had the support and budget to curate a pretty stellar line up of Cabernet Franc-dominant wines from Bordeaux, including some rather important, iconic producers. But among the wines that made my heart full was the 2016 Face Baies du Clos des Baies made by Château Ausone cellar master Philippe Baillarguet. Launched in 2010, Clos des Baies is Philppe's personal project, and Faces Baies is 100% Cabernet Franc from a single 0.33ha parcel of 40 year old vines in the commune of St-Laurent-des-Combes in St-Emilion. This wine surprised me for its balance of prestige and provenance with humility and approachability. I had the opportunity to meet Philippe in June during a brief but memorable visit to Château Ausone, and there is no denying his passion for Cabernet Franc is infectious, and this love and enthusiasm comes through in the Face Baies in spades.
From elsewhere in Europe:
Italy remains an important region of focus for my tastings of single-varietal Cabernet Franc outside of France. It is second (albeit a distant one) in the world after France in terms of plantings, and Tuscany is leading the charge with dozens of excellent examples from across its various sub-regions. As a traditional variety of the Bolgheri region, Cabernet Franc is beginning to be spoken about as “the future” of the region’s success, particularly in the wake of climate change. Last year I tried the OG 100% Cabernet Franc wine from the region - Le Macchiole’s Paleo Rosso. At the masterclass during the Cabernet Franc Symposium in Bordeaux, I got to try Tentuta Argentiera’s Ventaglio, which was extremely impressive and that sparked my curiosity to do a bit of a deep dive on this producer and their work with Cabernet Franc. I managed to track down a bottle of the estate’s first iteration of a 100% Cabernet Franc, the Lavinia Maria, and following a great email exchange with winemaker Nicolò Carrara, I presented this wine in a video this past fall. Trying these two wines this year further solidifies the importance of Bolgheri, and Tuscany as a whole, as it relates to Cabernet Franc, which I intend to cover more going forward.
From the Southern Hemisphere:
The primary producers of single-varietal Cabernet Franc in the Southern Hemisphere are Argentina and South Africa, with a smattering of examples from Chile and Uruguay. There are some examples from Australia and New Zealand (I have done videos on one from the McLaren Vale and one from Hawke's Bay), but sadly these rarely seen in export markets. While I tasted dozens of examples of Cab Franc from Argentina this year, it was a wine from Uruguay that stole my heart. I featured Bracco Bosca's Gran Ombù 2019 in a video earlier this year, and the memory of that wine has stuck with me. Energetic, floral, brimming with finesse, thoughtful and well-intentioned, it was the complete package, and a fine argument for why Cabernet Franc could become a star variety in Uruguay.
From North America:
There is exciting things happening with Cabernet Franc in all corners of the US, and this year I tasted dozens of examples from a diverse cross-section of regions. While living in Ontario makes it challenging to get my hands on these wines, I have had some generous friends send me the odd bottle that they insist that I need to try that would be near impossible to track down otherwise. Thanks to sommelier Eduardo Bolaños, who put the Echolands Winery Cabernet Franc on my radar. While there isn't a lot of single varietal Cabernet Franc produced in Washington State, Doug Frost is making it his mission to give the variety the attention and recognition it deserves. Their inaugural vintage of Cab Franc from Blue Mountain Vineyard in Walla Walla Valley was one of the highlights on my year (check out the video for my insights on this wine), and I am excited for what is to come from Doug and his team going forward.
Finally, during the summer, my local "bottle shop" got a small allocation of library releases of Tawse Winery's Laundry Vineyard Cabernet Franc. I remember when my mom texted me from the shop saying that there were not one, not two, but FOUR back vintages of this wine available, and instantly I thought it was too good to be true. The Laundry Vineyard has some of Ontario's oldest Cabernet Franc vines, and Tawse's bottling from this site has been a bit of a "lighthouse" example of Cabernet Franc from Niagara for me, and one that I recall tasting and enjoying when I was just starting in the industry. Naturally I did not hesitate, and I snagged a couple of each of the vintages that were available - 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2016. Of all the vintages, I was particularly taken with the cooler vintage expressions - 2011 and 2013 - and was floored with how well they showed with more than a decade of age.
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Whew! There we have it. 2023 in a nutshell. As I reflect on all the wines I tasted and experiences had, I cannot help but think - there is so much more to do! I think of how many wines and regions I didn’t get around to tasting or talking about, regions that deserve coverage, people whose stories need to be told. There is lots to look forward to in 2024, and I’m excited for the year ahead. My deepest thanks to everyone who continues to support me on this nerdy journey, and appreciates going down the rabbit hole with this grape variety as much as I do. I toast my year-end glass of Cabernet Franc to you.
