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Wine made from Cabernet Franc is generally paler, lighter, crisper, softer, and more obviously aromatic than that of its progeny, Cabernet Sauvignon.
This is how the authors of Wine Grapes, my standard reference, describe Cabernet Franc. Sounds great, doesn’t it? So it is a bit of a surprise that Cabernet Franc’s place in French wine is relatively limited.
France: Two Faces of Cab Franc
Cabernet Franc is the headline red wine grape in the Loire Valley, but in Bordeaux (and most other places) it is best known as a blending grape (or an insurance grape, I am told, because it buds and blossoms earlier than Cabernet Sauvignon and so helps winegrowers hedge their bets against unfavorable weather). Apart from Chateau Cheval Blanc and a few other BDX wines, Cab Franc is a backup singer behind Cabernet Sauvignon.
I think I first began to pay attention to Cabernet Franc about 15 years ago when I found myself helping Mike and Karen Wade on the bottling line at their Fielding Hills Winery (my report on the experience was the very first Wine Economist newsletter post). All the wines, made with grapes sourced from their Riverbend Vineyard on the Wahluke Slope, were great. But the Cab Franc really blew me away. It was then and remains now my favorite FHW wine.
Cab Franc was suddenly a thing to us and Sue and I started to wonder if maybe it was a Washington state wine thing. We got this idea from Chris Carmada, winemaker and proprietor at the Andrew Will Winery on nearby Vashon Island. Carmada said that Cab Franc might be Washington’s best red wine grape variety and Andrew Will makes the most of its exceptional quality in both their varietal wines and in the vineyard-specific blends.
This video tells the story of Andrew Will Winery and its particular affinity with Cabernet Franc. We also admire the elegant Cab Franc that Robin Pollard makes from her vineyard in the Rattlesnake Hills (a.k.a. “The Hills”) area.
Once we started looking for northwest Cabernet Franc we began to find it in unexpected places. The Rocks of Milton-Freewater is a famous AVA on the Washington-Oregon border. It is best known for the Syrah and Grenache wines that wineries such as Cayuse and Reynvaan make from the vines there. So we were surprised to find that Watermill Winery makes a terrific “Hallowed Stones” Cabernet Franc from their rocky estate vineyard, very different from Andrew Will, Pollard, or Fielding Hills. Distinctive.
Many Faces of Cabernet Franc
Looking further afield we stumbled across our first Napa Valley Cab Franc, the Ehlers Estate Cabernet Franc St. Helena, Napa Valley. Cab is King in Napa Valley, but Cabernet Franc is an unexpected discovery. This wine had the power and depth that you expect from Napa (15% abv, 18 months in oak) with the slight green edge that said Cab Franc not Cab Sauvignon. Sue liked it but said that the Napa style almost dominated the Cab Franc character.
Recently we’ve been learning more about the wine industries in Virginia and the Niagara Peninsula in Canada and discovered that Cab Franc plays important roles in both places. Barboursville Vineyards is probably our favorite Virginia winery (it was featured in my book Around the World in Eighty Wines) and its Barboursville Cabernet Franc Reserve is both great quality and great value.
Cabernet Franc is one of the most important red grape varieties for Niagara producers. We visited the region earlier this year and enjoyed tasting wines at Leaning Post Wines and Westcott Vineyards. Both focus on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, which do very well in that region, but both wineries also make exceptional Cab Franc wines inspired by the grape’s ability to express the character of particular sites.
The idea that Cabernet Franc is or could be a terroir wine — a wine that reflects its particular vineyard characteristics — comes as a surprise if you are used to thinking about it as a useful but secondary blending grape. Further study is required to explore this idea.
So we are starting to look for Cabernet Franc wines from Argentina. We know from our visits there that the differences in terroir, especially elevation, can be important. Malbec from Lujan de Cuyo can be very different from Malbec from the higher-elevation Uco Valley. So we are excited to taste the Durigutti Proyecto Las Compuertas Cabernet France (from Lujan de Cuyo) alongside the Bodega Andeluna Pasionado Cabernet Franc from Uco Valley vineyards situated at an even higher elevation 1300 meters above sea level.
Cab Franc World
It seems to me that Cabernet Franc has quietly exploded on the wine scene. Maybe it was always there and I just overlooked it. But maybe those qualities I found in Wine Grapes have become more important to wine drinkers. According to Wine Grapes, Cab Franc can be found almost everywhere: Northeast Italy, Spain, Romania, Hungary, Argentina, and Chile have significant plantings of the grape variety and there are patches of Cab Franc vines almost everywhere else. Even on Malta!
There is clearly a lot of work to be done to chart the Cab Franc universe. Once upon a time, Cabernet Franc was Cabernet Sauvignon’s shy understudy that has now taken center stage, at least some of the time. Either way, let’s celebrate Cabernet Franc.