Cabernet Franc – The Future of Fine Wine?

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I use this wine key: Forge de Laguiole Ebony
I have used this glass in this Video: Nude Stem Zero Powerful Reds
I have tasted the following wines in this Video:

2020 Domaine Guiberteau Saumur Rouge, Loire, France
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/dom+guiberteau+saumur+rouge+anjou+loire+france/2020?referring_site
=KSB

2021 Osmote Seneca Lake Cabernet Franc, Finger Lakes, USA – 30 USD
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/osmote+cab+franc+finger+seneca+lake+new+york+usa/2021?referring_site=KSB

2019 Chateau Jean Faure, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, France
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/jean+faure+st+emilion+grand+cru+bordeaux+france/2019?referring_site=KSB

2019 Le Macchiole ‘Paleo’ Bolgheri, Tuscany, Italy
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/le+macchiole+paleo+bolgheri+tuscany+italy/2019?referring_site=KSB

2019 Catena Zapata ‘Angelica Zapata Alta’ Cabernet Franc, Mendoza, Argentina
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/catena+zapata+angelica+alta+cab+franc+mendoza+argentina/2019?referring_site=KSB

2019 Garage Wine Co. Las Higueras Vineyard Cabernet Franc, Maule Valley, Chile
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/garage+co+higueras+cab+franc+maule+valley+chile/2019?referring_site=KSB

2020 Damascene Cabernet Franc, Stellenbosch, South Africa
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/damascene+cab+franc+stellenbosch+coastal+western+cape+south+africa/2020?referring_site=KSB

The 100 Point Scoring System (from www.robertparker.com):
96-100: An extraordinary wine of profound and complex character displaying all the attributes expected of a classic wine of its variety. Wines of this caliber are worth a special effort to find, purchase and consume.
90 – 95: An outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific wines.
80 – 89: A barely above average to very good wine displaying various degrees of finesse and flavor as well as character with no noticeable flaws.
70 – 79: An average wine with little distinction except that it is soundly made. In essence, a straightforward, innocuous wine.
60 – 69: A below-average wine containing noticeable deficiencies, such as excessive acidity and/or tannin, an absence of flavor or possibly dirty aromas or flavors.
50 – 59: A wine deemed to be unacceptable.

Cabernet Franc is by no means a new varietal. It has been around for a long time – so long that it is the father of not only one but two of the most famous grapes in the world.

Thanks to DNA Profiling scientists, established that Cabernet Sauvignon is a natural crossing of Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc. It also fathered Merlot together with Magdeleine Noire des Charentes.

However, the other family members achieved fame in the 20th century, but Cabernet Franc stayed in obscurity. It was the safety net and salt in the soup for Bordeaux blends and was rarely in the spotlight.
The variety is suited to cooler climates such as the Chinon and Bourgueil Appellations of the Loire, where it is vinified as a monovarietal. It can, however, also thrive in warmer climates such as Bordeaux, where it is blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and/or Merlot.

Cabernet Franc buds and matures earlier than Cabernet Sauvignon which means that it is easier to ripen and it is less susceptible to bad weather conditions in autumn.

I had a chat with Marchesi Antinori CEO Renzo Cotarella last year about the grape as Antinori is betting on Cabernet Francs potential, planting it all over Italy. He thinks that Cabernet Franc is a modern varietal that combines red fruit character with freshness and structure – matching the current tastes pretty well.

I agree overall, Cabernet Franc shows more red fruit character, combined with vegetal aromas and grippy texture, but fewer tannins than Cabernet Sauvignon. It can, however, also be ripe and concentrated.

A rising star yes the wine world has grape varieties that lived in the shadows and now become relevant again as tastes and growing conditions change caban is on the rise on my travels around the world it is a great variety that gets mentioned often when I ask

Wine makers what they want to plan more of in the future so let’s explore caban by tasting some of the greatest examples from all corners of the planet let’s get Franky C4 is by no means a new new varietal it has been around for a long time so long that it is the father of not only one but two of the most famous grae varieties in the world thanks to DNA profiling scientists have established that caban FR together with

S BL are the parents of caban s caban Fran also fathered Mero together with Magdalene Noir the however the other family members achieved Fame in the 20th century while caban FR stayed in obscurity it was the salt in the soup and safety net for bordeau blend and was

Rarely in the spotlight the variety is suited to cooler climates like the Shino and bug appellations in the laa it can also perform really well in warmer climates such as Bordeaux where it is usually blended with caban s and or Mero caban FR buts and matures earlier than

Caban sovo which means that it is usually easier to ripen and it is less susceptible to bad weather conditions in Autumn I had to chat with maesi antinori CEO Reno cotarella bought the grape last year year as antinori is betting heavily on the potential for caban Fran planting

It all over Italy he thinks that caban Fran is a modern varietal that combines red fruit character with freshness and structure which matches the current tastes pretty well I agree overall caban FR shows more red fruit character combined with vegetal Aromas and a grippy texture however it has less

Tenant than caban Sor but it can also be really rich and concentrated but now let’s taste the stuff Leon has prepared a selection of caban FRS from all around the world so let’s see what the hype is all about let’s start off with the 2020 giberto suou which is probably one of

The more famous caban FRS in the world the domain was founded in the 20th century and was taken over by Roman Liberto in 1996 he was a law student but then decided that he should follow his heart and took over the winery and he was mentored by NAD fuk who was running

CLA at the time one of the most famous caban FRS in the world probably and a wine that I tasted a while ago when we were talking about hype wines or Sumer year wines I don’t remember the title but I’ll I’ll link it up somewhere up

There so the winery is part of the Su appalation in the LA region the winery or The Vineyards are farmed organically and they only work with shenan BL and caban form the wine is actually fairly low in alcohol 12.5% the fruit is fully dest stemmed the wine ferments in concrete tanks and

Then ages in used barrels so we shouldn’t get any new Oak flavor or well spicy Smoky notes in this wine so as you can see the wine is fairly pale in color it is dark Ruby at the core but but you can see your fingers through the glass even at the

Core so yeah light colored wine which is fairly typical for cabet FRS from that part of the world it is super bright in flavor you got cherry fruit flavor you got raspberries there it’s very fine and delicate it reminds me a little bit of Pinon nois so there’s quite a lot of

Elegance there and fruit forwardness on the palette it’s really juicy refreshing the tennants are fine they’re present but they’re not intense at all they’re fairly delicate beautiful juicy light and Lively wine in my experience over the last few years C Fran has actually lost most of this herbaceousness in the laa

It used to be quite spicy sometimes really vegetal in aroma so you had like green bell pepper certainly quite a bit of red bell pepper flavor in the glass but as the climate is warming up and the Summers tend to be fairly warm also in the LA you don’t necessarily get that as

Much anymore you see my glass is empty not because I drank it all I spit it out but still this is a delicious wine but it is not a showstopper you know it’s not like a wine it might actually be a wine that you miss in a blind tasting or

In a bigger lineup of wines it’s still delicious though I’m going to rate this 91 points this is something that I would love to have with light meia Maybe some cold cuts just a traditional German aren broad where you eat a slice of bread top with some some sausage or

Ham that’s that’s what this m is made for next up we have the 2021 osot caban Fran Sia Lake from the Finger Lakes region in New York this is a region that has gained traction over the last few years it’s not from New York city so it’s not made on skyscrapers instead

It’s from new New York state so roughly 240 Mi 400 km outside of the city center osot started in 2014 and in 2020 they actually moved outside of the Talon Winery where they rented some space into their own facility which is a former Trucking garage apparently so this is a real

Garage Winery so the finger legs are fairly cool they are famous for recing for example so more of a cool climate varietal and caban fr FR therefore makes a lot of sense it’s also more of a cool climate varietal so let’s see whether they can do what they do with resling

Which can be quite outstanding with caban FR all right so I would say this is even lighter in color than the giberto the Som caban FR so it’s really really pale it’s almost translucent um really light in color let’s taste it I like the flavor delicious it smells of ripe cherries and

Plums do you know like a plum cake this is kind of what this smells like really bright and intense so on the pette it is really fresh and light there are not too many tenants there there’s a little bit of drip but but really really just a little lots of juiciness lots of

Freshness on the finish so really yeah light but but profound I like this quite a bit I don’t think you can just kind of put it next to any other red wine and it would show kind of what what it’s all about but on its own it’s just delicious

And refreshing I’m going to rate this 91 points even though it doesn’t have like body and concentration and all that but it it has it has depth and I just saw that it actually only has 11.5% of alcohol so show me a red wine that has only

11.5% of alcohol and tastes this good by the way senica lake is 61 km long and the deepest lake in the finger leges so can feel that freshness coming from that Lake going straight into the wine one of the most famous wineries in the world using a large chunk of cabet Fran is

Cheval blon from the bordo region cabet fron obviously has played an important role in Bordeaux for a long time but it usually only plays a smaller role even in chevr blon wines it doesn’t always make up more than 50% of the blend often times Mero actually plays the bigger

Role but that’s not the case with the next one so this one is the 2019 je 4 sanon gr crew which uses 65% cavan Fran 30% Mero and 5% Malbec so it’s a fairly small Winery with 19 hectar of Vineyards located on the right Bank in s Emon it

Is organically certified and I believe it’s currently on the path to being certified biodynamic or maybe the wines are already certified biodynamic the winery and The Vineyards are actually located next to Chev blon so some of that greatness must must have moved over the border from Chevon to Jean the wine

Is partially aged in new Oak I believe 1/3 is in new Oak and the rest is in an assortment of used barrels and it stays in there for 18 months and they use fairy little sulfur so well they they’re trying to keep it as natural as possible even though I

Don’t think this is actually like a natural wine it’s but but yeah they are they’re pretty hands off so s g isn’t necessarily always the most reliable appalation there’s some really bad ones I mean G Cru sounds pretty awesome but there’s actually quite a lot of producers who can produce s and some

Of them are not making great wine but jean 4 I believe is is pretty pretty good but let’s let’s taste it first so here we are clearly in a different territory the wine is quite a bit darker I mean it’s not opaque it’s not black but it is quite a bit darker this

Obviously also isn’t 100% kabani Fran it’s blended with other varietal that might have added a little bit more color to it but overall my understanding is also that if cabinet FR grows in warmer climates it does tend to bring more color and more concentration overall it also has more alcohol than the previous

Ones which isn’t really difficult because I mean let’s face it you can’t really find a lot of red ones with 12 and a half % alcohol or less anymore this has 13 1 12% which is still fairly low compared to other producers in that region I mean Sant meon especially in

The warmer vintage can get really rich and concentrated I’ve tasted Sant meor that were 15 15 1 12% so too much this is extremely wellmade I mean it’s super delicate delicious multi-layered you have some flavors of cherries that there’s also a little bit of ciss coming through there also notes of from flowers

Like violet a little bit of lavender really complex very delicious the yolk doesn’t stand out at all it’s really well integrated so it’s a very complex wine on the pad it’s intense a little bit of rusticity there so the tenants quite quite grippy there’s good freshness there the body is present but

It’s not a heavy wine at all it still has structure which is obviously totally fine for Bordeaux from 2019 those ones should be aged for a while and this is still really really young but yeah I like it I like it still even if there’s a touch of rusticity

There the Finish is long and vibrant 92 93 points same vintage different country it’s the 2019 leak paleo a pure Kam Fran from Tuscan in Italy the winery is located in bulgary a region that is famous for super tasin wines it started off as a Bordeaux blend but in 2001 they

Decided to make a pure Cabernet Fran here and apparently this is really really good I haven’t tasted it yet so let’s let’s find out paleo seems to be a wild herb that is found in Tuscany and this is fermented in concrete vessels and then aged in new bars for 20

Months 20 months another good plop isn’t paleo also the name of this diet where you only allow to eat unprocessed food like the people from the Stone Age probably nothing to do with the wine even though they made wine in the Stone Age did you know that so this is

Certainly quite a bit darker than all previous ones it’s it’s it’s it’s black it’s really dark and its core even though this is a 100% C Fran showing that a great variety The Great variety might be the same but growing conditions the region the climate also play an

Important role in shaping the character of a one on the palette it’s very rich but it retains its red fruit character I think there’s still like red Cur flavors coming through a little bit of uh strawberries but there’s also dark fruit character as well quite a lot of

Spiciness a little bit of chocolate mocha flavors seeping in to I guess this is mainly due to the use of new Oak the oak certainly shows more than in the previous one it’s a little bit more little bit more in your face on the palette it’s very grippy and intense I think

There’s quite a lot of Oak tennon coming through legs of a little bit of acidity and it’s overall a bit disjointed I think this wine is made to impress with its intensity and its Oak flavors but it doesn’t really allower the caban Fran to shine in my opinion even though this is

100% caban Fran it just kind of feels like like like they Tred to make caban Sor out of caban Fran the one actually received 98 points on robertp parker.com but but I don’t think it deserves that I I honestly think that that this is not really highlighting the fruit it’s more

Highlighting the wine making process so I’m actually going to rate this 92 points I think it is a very well-made wine I think it probably is way too young so there’s quite a lot of potential there for it but I don’t think that it would ever show caban Fran in

The way the previous ones did and express its its true beauty instead I really think they they tried to do something here that the grapes didn’t want to didn’t want to give so next up we have the 2019 Angelica zabata from canena zabata which is a cabet Fran from

Argentina mendosa in Argentina to be more precise and it also says alter here on the label which I’m assuming means that it’s from higher located Vineyards it’s also 13 and a half% of alcohol so a little bit lower I mean it’s quite a lot of wine coming out of Argentina that has

More alcohol than that so C Fran plays a more and more important role in Argentina and in Chile as well so but still I mean Argentina is malbe country which we all know the wine was aged for 18 months in 50% new bricks so again I guess this is

Going to be a little bit more intense and Rich but yeah as you can you can see the color is already very dark this is really intense more like the the previous wine pure cabet FR but with lots of concentration but the flavor is more balanced and we have more food here

So we have flavors of raspberri strawberries it’s also cherries little bit of Darker fruit like Blackberries coming through the the oak actually is pretty pretty much in the background here underlining the fruit on the parette this is intense grippy juicy there’s body there they are fine polished talents lots of freshness on

The back end so this is really well composed so the fruit is super bright and intense and and I I just don’t find anything here that that bothers me it’s all really polished it could obviously have more depth concentration intensity but I’m going to rate this 95 point I

Think it’s a delicious wine and we’re moving over the Andes to the neighbor of Argentina and Chile and this is the 2019 garage Wine Company Las higueras higueras Vineyard from ma in Chile so the second garage Winery in the tasting so far so while the winery started as a garage Winery it doesn’t

Seem to be one anymore with 35 hectar of Vineyards they focus on Reviving old plots of land land like old Vineyards and making exciting wines out of those Gali old Vines this wine is actually from 120y old caban Fran vines that are Bush trains so they look like little

Trees basically and that all sounds pretty cool the wine is fermented in concrete tanks and then aged in used barrels so well they they try to kind of stay away from Smoky Oak flavors here I guess this one C isn’t the darkest wine in the tasting but it’s also not the

Lightest colored one those old Vines usually produce very small clusters of grapes that have very small berries and if you have small berries you tend to get more more flavor more tenant more structure into the wine the wine smells of ripe cherries strawberries there’s a little bit of Plum character coming through as

Well certainly not a lot of Oak flavor on the palette it’s actually juicy grippy good freshness there it’s quite complete it’s maybe not as bright in flavor as the previous wine but it is a very good one I’m going to rate this 93 points I think it’s it’s delicious I love the

Backstory but in the glass it just doesn’t pop as much as the wine before this one so but 93 is is a very good score last but not least I’m tasting the 20 20 damine cabet Fran from Stalin Bosch in South Africa so the wine is from a coola

Vineyard that was planted in 2004 so it’s not 120 years old it’s 20 years old that that doesn’t always mean a lot I mean you can make great wine from younger Vineyards it is aged for 11 months in larger Oak Vats and their tagline seems to be less

Cult more cultivation I I like that again medium dark in color so well more towards the middle at least there’s there’s quite a bit of concentration here but it’s it’s not super dark this is interesting I mean on the nose it actually has quite a lot of pipe flavor

Like old pipes like cold smoke this appears to be the most most habous Smoky pepperi Cabernet Fran in the whole tasting even though we’ve tasted some from very cool places like the laa or the fingerlakes region but but this is actually quite quite peppery and interesting but South Africa often has

This um old world character this slight rusticity um but yeah this this is different on the pette it’s juicy intense lots of freshness there the tons are ripe and brown but yeah this is this is a complete wine that is a bit edgy though but I like edgy every now and then and

This this feels right so I’m going to score this 94 points I think it is a delicious delicious caban FR in summary the hype is real caban FR can do a lot of things really well it can perform well in cool climates it can perform well in warm climates it can be

Delicious at 11.5% alcohol like this SMY finger legs com from proed but also richer and more more concentrated Styles can be really really good I think when it comes to scores the Angelica sabata actually was the best wine in the tasting but the wine that I’d love to drink for dinner

Is this the osoi which was just something really exciting and very new also for me and none of the wines really underperformed I mean the Paleo had a really high rating and I didn’t think it was 98 points for sure but I would drink the all I mean they were they were

Delicious so thank you for watching I hope you enjoyed this video if you did then please like it down here subscribe to my channel if you haven’t done so already my question of the day is what do you think about C Fran have you tasted some yes no maybe maybe one day

Let me know down in the comments I hope I see you again very soon until then well then that was not good but anyways until then stay thirsty B b b b