Every wine has its day. For Cabernet Franc, it’s Dec. 4. That’s fitting, given that the wine’s customary forward fruit, stable spine and nippy acidity make it a fine companion for the hearty dishes of fall and winter.
Michael Kelly doesn’t wait until Dec 4 to uncork or unscrew a bottle of Cabernet Franc. He savors it year-round, especially on a day in March.
That is when he conducts his yearly International Cabernet Franc Wine Competition, which he bills as “the world’s largest annual” judging of the wine.
The fourth competition was held the other day in the aptly named Grandview Room of the Golf Club at Copper Valley, tucked into the lush and rolling Sierra Nevada foothills just outside of Copperopolis in Calaveras County, about 40 miles east of Stockton. Copper Valley is a remote and secluded gated community with a large and active wine society, of which Michael Kelly is an unusually well-organized, energetic and focused member.
My place on the panel at the outset, with all tools readily available, from spit cup to palate cleansers like olives, meats, almonds and bread.
His fondness for Cabernet Franc began some 20 years ago, when he was smitten by a version turned out by the Napa Valley winery Crocker & Starr. Since then, and after tasting many other takes, he has come to think of Cabernet Franc as “the seductress of wines.” That kind of phrasing puts him into a camp of Cabernet Franc fans who refer to the wine’s charms with terms suggesting femininity, sensuousness and sexuality. His fellow travelers include wine writer Jancis Robinson, who describes Cabernet Franc as “gently flirtatious,” and winemaker Steven Kent Mirassou, who finds the wine “terrifyingly and wonderfully naughty.”
Well, let’s see about that. This year’s International Cabernet Franc Wine Competition drew 80 entries. Around half were from California, with others from Virginia, New York, Missouri, Washington, Oregon and Texas. Seven were from Hungary, three from Chile, one from Italy.
The California entries came from all over the state, though especially large blocks showed up from the Sierra Foothills, Livermore Valley and Napa Valley. Prices ranged from $6 to $200, with most between $30 and $40, dear for a wine whose principal role has been quiet understudy to Cabernet Sauvignon, but those kinds of prices could represent Cabernet Franc’s growing popularity and limited production; after all, most of it continues to play a supportive role in Bordeaux-inspired blends.
To prepare myself to help judge the competition, I did some boning up on Cabernet Franc, given that while it is a common blending wine in Bordeaux and California, valued for its bright red fruit, complicating aroma (berries, flowers, spices), reliable tannins, razory acidity and insinuations of herbs, it hasn’t been widely appreciated as a varietal wine, though that could be changing.
More vintners seem to be joining the few who long have exploited Cabernet Franc as a stand-alone varietal wine, particularly in France’s Loire Valley, northern Italy, Chile, Argentina and California.
Because of that wide range of sites, as well as the individual bent of winemakers, Cabernet Franc can’t be rigidly defined stylistically. Suggestions of violets in aroma, raspberries in flavor, supple tannins and edgy acidity are common in Cabernet Franc regardless of source, but the wine’s weight can range from light to heavy, its color from pale to inky, its finish from blunt to lingering, and its flavor more suggestive of cherries and blackberries than raspberries, occasionally supplemented or succeeded by insinuations of eucalyptus, rosemary, tobacco and mint. The spice it brings to the table commonly evokes one member or other of the peppercorn family. A suggestion of chile pepper occasionally will pop up.
Because of this limited sampling, and the need to move through the wines at a brisk pace, I hesitate to draw comparative conclusions about their presentation based on source, but entries from the East Coast seemed more European in styling – lighter in color, leaner in build, decidedly dry, bordering on austere. West Coast interpretations were more flamboyant, with juicier and sweeter fruit, bigger builds, more eccentricity – where did that suggestion of carrot cake come from?
Comparisons with Cabernet Sauvignon almost invariably arise when the two Cabernets are on the table. (With Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Franc “fathered” Cabernet Sauvignon.) Next to Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc tends to be slimmer, and more limber, floral, herbaceous, polite and graceful. Again, styles can range all over the place, but Cabernet Franc just may be a more adaptable companion at the table than Cabernet Sauvignon, not necessarily calling for the kinds of gamy and hearty dishes commonly associated with the latter.
At Copper Valley, four tables of judges passed judgment on the 80 entries. Two tables formed the “professional” panel – winemakers and wine educators, retailers and writers – and two constituted the “people’s choice” panel, made up of representatives from the development’s 150-member wine society. Results for the two groups were tabulated and tracked separately.
My panel mates at one of the professional tables were Tana Cole, winemaker and general manager at Jessie’s Grove Winery & Vineyards of Lodi; Debbie Miller, “chief tasting-room frog” for The Tipsy Frog Wine Bar of Copperopolis; and Jim Denham, proprietor of The Wine Steward, a wine shop and wine bar in Pleasanton.
Wines were organized by geography and price niche. Judges were told general place of origin but not specific appellation. Judges weren’t told prices, and they tasted the wines blind.
After five hours of deliberation and a series of votes, each panel designated a grand sweepstakes winner. For the professional panel, it was the svelte, tense and pungent LXV Wine 2020 Santa Barbara Portico Hills Vineyard Reserve Cabernet Franc ($95). For the people’s-choice panel, it was the inky, steely and complex Ledson Winery & Vineyards 2019 Sonoma Valley Moon Mountain District Cabernet Franc ($98).
One wine on which both panels concurred has a Sacramento tie, the Corti Brothers 2017 Colli Euganei “Canzoniere” Riserva Cabernet Franc ($40), a focused, streamlined, sturdy, crisp and herbal-limned take on the variety. Panelists from both camps elected it best-of-show in the international category. Sacramento grocer Darrell Corti came across the wine in a 500-liter tonneau while touring Lucio Gomiero’s Vignalta estate in Italy’s Veneto in 2018, liked what he tasted and asked that it be bottled under the Corti Brothers label. (I knew the wine had been entered in the competition, and because it was the only entry from Italy I recused myself from deliberations and voting, though I did taste it.)
My other personal favorites included the forceful, floral and cocoa-dusted J. Lohr 2017 Paso Robles Cuvée St. E ($50), a Bordeaux-inspired blend based on 63 percent Cabernet Franc, best of class for blended wines with Cabernet Franc dominant; the vibrant, lean and smoky Brecon Estate 2020 Paso Robles Reserve Cabernet Franc ($94); the Shale Canyon 2017 Arroyo Seco Cabernet Franc ($35), perhaps the most attractively priced American entry, given the wine’s interlacing of plums and herbs, supple texture, inviting fragrance, focused acidity and persistent finish; the fresh, poised and sharp 3 Steves Winery 2018 Cienega Valley Cabernet Franc ($48); the plush and spicy Selin Cellars 2020 Fountain Grove Cabernet Franc ($75), which for all its eucalyptus, bright fruit and generous oak was one of the day’s heftier and more layered contenders; and the nervy, silky and leanly elegant L’Autre Côte 2020 Santa Cruz Mountains Bates Ranch Vineyard Cabernet Franc ($98). (L’Autre Côte is a brand of the aforementioned Steven Kent Mirassou, member of one of Livermore Valley’s more historic and enduring wine families; the Wentes are the other.)
My takeaway with Cabernet Franc is that its availability reinforces one of the more enduring adages of the wine scene: When a wine varies so much stylistically, and you are uncertain just what style you will get, rely on your trusted wine merchant to guide you to a satisfying buy. All you need do is outline the style you think you most would enjoy. It could be something immediately quaffable or something you would like to let age for five years, something you expect to pair with salmon or something you want to serve with prime rib. It can be “gently flirtatious,” all right, but it also can be brassy.
Michael Kelly is so keen on spreading his affection for Cabernet Franc to other wine enthusiasts, he orchestrates two subsequent follow-up events, a public tasting called the Cabernet Franc Wine Stroll, April 15 at Copper Valley clubhouse, and a dinner to highlight the pairing of Cabernet Franc with assorted dishes, April 22, also at the clubhouse. For more information on those events, a complete list of the competition’s winners and an introduction to Michael Kelly’s website California Wines & Wineries, go here.
To learn where copies of my book “The Signature Wines of Superior California” can be found, please visit my website SignatureWines.us.