Chinon is among the best red wine towns in the white wine region of the Loire Valley in France. The other night I tried 3 different ones from the great 2005 vintage. I was trying to organize my storage space in the store and found the 3 different cases in 3 different locations in the store room. I took it as an omen. And, quality rules.
Charles Jouget is considered by many to be the best producer in Chinon. The red grape grown in this town is Cabernet Franc. His wines are all delicious. His best wine comes from the Clos du Chene Vert vineyard. At $40 a bottle the wine is still very young and will keep and improve for at least 1o years, maybe longer. Fruit, and hints of brown spice, with some still youthful tannins, this wine is yummy now with fattier cuts of meat. I had it with beef short ribs and that has lots of fat, but the ribs were smoked and I was surprised that the wine did not work well with the smokey flavor. Oh, well, more homework is needed.
Showing posts with label Cabernet Franc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cabernet Franc. Show all posts
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
April 26
After the Raats dinner, we adjourned to the courtyard and tasted some other Cabernet Francs, cuz I wanted to get the expert's opinion.
We started with the 2006 Insoglio de Cinghiale, a super-Tuscan from Maremma that is a blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Syrah. At first, he said nothing, but I could tell it was not his cup of tea. A half hour later, he turned to me and said that he couldn't believe how much better it got in the glass over time. When I told him the wholesaler had dropped the price from $35 a bottle down to $25 a bottle, he told me, he would drink it at that price. Another rib-eye to be consumed soon.
Tony Soter is one of California's best winemakers. I have tasted his Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon and been impressed. I have never tasted his Cabernet Franc til the Raats dinner. At $70 a bottle this is flashy red wine. Lots of sweet new oak flavors are not my cup of tea. Raats thought the wine was correct but needed more time for the oak to calm down, but if you like those big showy California Cabs. this wine will work for you now.
And from out of the cellar I found the 1996 Beringer III Century Cabernet Franc! Spectacular! Also sold out. I dont think Beringer makes this anymore. The grapes were from Howell Mountain. Raats apprenticed at Cakebread Cellars for a while and told me that he learned that he would only grow Cabernet Franc on Howell Mountain or Chalk Hill because of the soil. This wine proved him correct.
We started with the 2006 Insoglio de Cinghiale, a super-Tuscan from Maremma that is a blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Syrah. At first, he said nothing, but I could tell it was not his cup of tea. A half hour later, he turned to me and said that he couldn't believe how much better it got in the glass over time. When I told him the wholesaler had dropped the price from $35 a bottle down to $25 a bottle, he told me, he would drink it at that price. Another rib-eye to be consumed soon.
Tony Soter is one of California's best winemakers. I have tasted his Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon and been impressed. I have never tasted his Cabernet Franc til the Raats dinner. At $70 a bottle this is flashy red wine. Lots of sweet new oak flavors are not my cup of tea. Raats thought the wine was correct but needed more time for the oak to calm down, but if you like those big showy California Cabs. this wine will work for you now.
And from out of the cellar I found the 1996 Beringer III Century Cabernet Franc! Spectacular! Also sold out. I dont think Beringer makes this anymore. The grapes were from Howell Mountain. Raats apprenticed at Cakebread Cellars for a while and told me that he learned that he would only grow Cabernet Franc on Howell Mountain or Chalk Hill because of the soil. This wine proved him correct.
Passion
Think of all the hits I will get with that title.
Had dinner with one of the most passionate, good guy winemakers in the world the other night, Bruwer Raats of Raats Family Vineyards of South Africa. He makes what he likes and he makes them world class and keeps the price to quality ration extremely consumer friendly.
He loves Chenin Blanc for white wine. He loves Cabernet Franc for red wine. He makes two Chenin Blancs. An un-oaked version that retails for $14.99 has perfect balance between fruit and minerality. What does minerality taste like? Try his Chenin Blanc! This is the ideal wine for summer sipping on hot days with a variety of salads and finger foods. Take time to smell the glass when empty, the aroma of golden delicious apple in harmony with peach is amazing.
His slightly wood aged Chenin Blanc retails for $24.99. This has some additional aromas and flavors of earth and mushroom with the apple-peach minerality. It was served with a 4 different appetizer plate. Any wine that can handle rhubarb, chicken livers, Andouille sausage and spicey calamari can handle just about any dish. It fits nicely in between over the top Chardonnay and refreshingly light Sauvignon Blanc. It lets the chef get credit for his food, but the wine stands up on its own.
Raats Family Cabernet Franc is $34.99. You can drink this or, for $349.99, you can drink Cheval Blanc. At a recent "brown-bag" even, I couldn't tell them apart. So either I stink as a wine taster, or the Raats is wicked good. At the dinner, it was served with a pan seared Rib-eye steak. Awesome! The 2007 in the market now is a bit rougher around the edges. With food it was perfect. I have put a few bottles in my cellar waiting for time to smooth out the wine. The 2006 is already smooth.
Now if you do want to spend a lot of money, Raats makes a wine in partnership with his friend Mvemve, the first black winemaker college graduate. The have a wine called MR de Compostella. Rough translation, compostion of the stars. They take the 5 great grapes of Bordeaux, vinify them separately, and then create a blend based not on quantity that they bought, but on the QUALITY of each individual barrel. The final blend is never the same. Each vintage is unique. There are only 400 cases of this wine. It ages amazing. At the event we drank the 2004. It has won a bunch of awards around the world. If you can find any of them, buy them. I am sold out. I begged him for some more. Time will tell if grovelling works.
Had dinner with one of the most passionate, good guy winemakers in the world the other night, Bruwer Raats of Raats Family Vineyards of South Africa. He makes what he likes and he makes them world class and keeps the price to quality ration extremely consumer friendly.
He loves Chenin Blanc for white wine. He loves Cabernet Franc for red wine. He makes two Chenin Blancs. An un-oaked version that retails for $14.99 has perfect balance between fruit and minerality. What does minerality taste like? Try his Chenin Blanc! This is the ideal wine for summer sipping on hot days with a variety of salads and finger foods. Take time to smell the glass when empty, the aroma of golden delicious apple in harmony with peach is amazing.
His slightly wood aged Chenin Blanc retails for $24.99. This has some additional aromas and flavors of earth and mushroom with the apple-peach minerality. It was served with a 4 different appetizer plate. Any wine that can handle rhubarb, chicken livers, Andouille sausage and spicey calamari can handle just about any dish. It fits nicely in between over the top Chardonnay and refreshingly light Sauvignon Blanc. It lets the chef get credit for his food, but the wine stands up on its own.
Raats Family Cabernet Franc is $34.99. You can drink this or, for $349.99, you can drink Cheval Blanc. At a recent "brown-bag" even, I couldn't tell them apart. So either I stink as a wine taster, or the Raats is wicked good. At the dinner, it was served with a pan seared Rib-eye steak. Awesome! The 2007 in the market now is a bit rougher around the edges. With food it was perfect. I have put a few bottles in my cellar waiting for time to smooth out the wine. The 2006 is already smooth.
Now if you do want to spend a lot of money, Raats makes a wine in partnership with his friend Mvemve, the first black winemaker college graduate. The have a wine called MR de Compostella. Rough translation, compostion of the stars. They take the 5 great grapes of Bordeaux, vinify them separately, and then create a blend based not on quantity that they bought, but on the QUALITY of each individual barrel. The final blend is never the same. Each vintage is unique. There are only 400 cases of this wine. It ages amazing. At the event we drank the 2004. It has won a bunch of awards around the world. If you can find any of them, buy them. I am sold out. I begged him for some more. Time will tell if grovelling works.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Name Dropping
I had dinner the other night with Brewer Raats. One of the larger than life itself wine characters in the trade, he prides himself in Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc. Heck, he owns an Irish pub in South African college town, how cool is that?
He told a story about a night of wine tasting with fellow South African winemakers where each winemaker had to bring "the wine that changed you" or something to that effect. He brought Chateau Cheval Blanc, one of the seven great Bordeauxs, along with Mouton, Lafite et al. Cheval Blanc has lots of Cabernet Franc in its blend and his desire was to create a wine in the style of Cheval Blanc.
Zip forward to last weeks dinner in Boston and he brought his Raats Family 2001 Cabernet Franc and a 1998 Chat. Cheval Blanc. His is $30 a bottle, the Cheval Blanc is conservatively worth about $300. The only difference I could detect was that the Cheval Blanc had a little sweeter fruit flavor. Presently at the store we offer the yummy 2006 Raats Cabernet Franc at $29.99 a bottle and will add the 2007 at the same price. Drinkable and cellarable for less than $30 is ridiculous. That night we had them with Wild Boar and Mushroom over Pasta. Great match.
And if you want to really splurge, he is in partnership in a wine called MR de Compostella. Around $100 a bottle, and you can only imagine what a wonderful age-worthy wine this is.
He told a story about a night of wine tasting with fellow South African winemakers where each winemaker had to bring "the wine that changed you" or something to that effect. He brought Chateau Cheval Blanc, one of the seven great Bordeauxs, along with Mouton, Lafite et al. Cheval Blanc has lots of Cabernet Franc in its blend and his desire was to create a wine in the style of Cheval Blanc.
Zip forward to last weeks dinner in Boston and he brought his Raats Family 2001 Cabernet Franc and a 1998 Chat. Cheval Blanc. His is $30 a bottle, the Cheval Blanc is conservatively worth about $300. The only difference I could detect was that the Cheval Blanc had a little sweeter fruit flavor. Presently at the store we offer the yummy 2006 Raats Cabernet Franc at $29.99 a bottle and will add the 2007 at the same price. Drinkable and cellarable for less than $30 is ridiculous. That night we had them with Wild Boar and Mushroom over Pasta. Great match.
And if you want to really splurge, he is in partnership in a wine called MR de Compostella. Around $100 a bottle, and you can only imagine what a wonderful age-worthy wine this is.
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