2004 Golden Mile Cellars Cabernet Franc

[TheEngineer]

I'm currently in Vancouver and without anyone that I needed to take out for dinner (where is Capocheny anyways....) I went out to one of the privately owned wine stores in Vancouver and picked up a few Okanagan, BC wines that are not distributed out of the area.

I do like the Golden Mile Cellars Estate Winery's 2004 Cabernet Franc. A nicely balanced wine though just a hint sweet for me. Dark garnet in colour but translucent almost, medium body. Nice floral nose, vanilla, and berries. On the palate, the wines is lively with cherries,plums, some spices and a bit of oak. Tannins are smooth. Nicely made wine and definitely cooler weather than Napa to the South....way south... 145 cases, $27.99 CDN (or about $25 USD)

[Innkeeper]

IMHO Cabernet Franc is the most undergrown, underproduced, and underappreciated grape in the U.S. Not only have the folks in the Loire Valley done wonders with it for generations, but Chateau Cheval Blanc the numero uno St Emilion has it ahead of Merlot in their blend.

In her book "Tasting Pleasure - Confessions of a Wine Lover", Jancis Robinson writes about tasting ten year old bottles of the Five First Growths, Petrus, Cheval, and later Ausone with the Penning-Rowsell, Broadbents, and her husband during the '80s. She flately states that the composite winner over the decade was Cheval. This speaks rather well of Cab Franc.

Since other Bordeaux grapes do well in this country, you would think that Cab Franc (the parent of Cabernet Sauvignon) would do well too. I just think the Left Coasters haven't tried hard enough.

[dananne]

When you talk to winemakers in the S. Appalachians from, say, VA to GA, most think the best red vinifera planted around here is Cab Franc. Some folks have done nice things with Malbec or Tannat or Touriga National, but many people are doing good things with CF around here. Why so few on the left coast seem able to is a puzzler. One winemaker I met at a pre-Wine South event was talking about this, and he said, "Well, the people who grow Cabernet Franc are the ones that can't grow Cabernet Sauvignon." While at first I thought he was talking about vineyards (soil, climate, etc.) I realized that he was talking about $ and marketing. I suppose that's at least part of the story -- why make a wonderful CF and sell it for $25 when you can make a middling CS and sell it for $50?

[Innkeeper]

They do a fair job with it in the Finger Lakes, as well as on Long Island, and in PA, NJ, and MD. Wouldn't it be a hoot in someday East Coast Cab Franc reigned? We can all dally with wishful thinking.

[Kcwhippet]

I've had a few very nice CA Cab Francs - Ridge, Acorn, Imagery, Viansa and Larkin.

[dananne]

Lang & Reed is a pretty good one from Cali, and I've had nice examples from Oregon (Abacela) and Washington (Willow Crest's was one of my favorite overall wines from last summer's trip).