Wine Club Insider back with you.

Celebrated a beautiful mid-winter day here today, with temps in the mid-forties (almost balmy!), sunny and no wind. Celebrating a beautiful mid-winter evening with a glass of Mission Hill “Oculus,” a WONDERFUL Bordeaux-style blend made with 20% Cab Franc from Canada…  www.missionhillwinery.com. This is a beautiful wine. Deep, rich and succulent, it’s a real treasure.

Coincidentally, today is Cab Franc day… Used often as a blending wine, it’s a bit lighter than Cab Sauv, and lends a bit of pepper and finesses to other wines.

Cab Franc is one of the real foundations of Bordeaux wine. It’s the parent of both Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and is written of back almost 300 years. It’s a bright red wine that is gaining immense popularity in cooler climates, including Canada. In the past couple of years, more and more vintners are trying to make pure Cab Francs, with increasing success. There is precedent, as Chateau Cheval Blanc of French wine fame is almost a pure Cab Franc. As a matter of fact, it’s the main grape from the Loire Valley.

There are some very nice Cab Francs being mae by Del Dotto, Crocker & Starr, Robert Sinskey, Vineyard 29, Arger-Martucci, Barrister and Rubicon. Maybe the best among, however, are the Cabernet Francs from Lang & Reed, a small St. Helena operation that grows only Cab Franc! Talk about putting your beliefs in the line! In most years, they have both an early release, their North Coast, and a reserve release, their Premier Etage. The North Coast Cabernet Franc is usually bottled in June, and the winery will produce less than 3,000 cases of the 2006 vintage.

In Canada, one of the best Cab Francs I’ve ever tasted is by Pillitteri vineyards, located on the Niagara Peninsula. Firm tannins, long lasting finish… a serious wine for sure.

Now, I must apologize… I said that Paul Giamatti drank a bottle of Merlot in the final scene of Sideways, but I went back and watched it, and was laughing part way through, because not only did he dish Merlot, he dished Cab Franc throughout as well, and the wine he consumed with passion at the end was a Cheval Blanc – a Cab Franc!

Cheers!

Wine Club Insider out!

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