By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor Honestly, I drink them all year, but with the weather we've been experiencing, we are decidedly in the midst of cabernet franc season at my house. A combination of the weather cooling and the changing local, seasonal vegetables available have meant more root vegetables, more stews, and more roasts on our dinner table. As a franc fanatic, I often reach for cabernet franc with these foods. Rooster Hill Vineyards 2009 Cabernet Franc ($25) is a wine made for rich foods, particularly those with bacon or another smokey element. Red cherries and pomegranate molasses aromas are…
Posts Tagged“cabernet franc”
Heron Hill Winery 2008 Ingle Vineyard Cabernet Franc
By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor The image of Finger Lakes red wines as typically underwhelming — especially compared to the regions often outstanding white wines — has begun to evolve in recent years — mostly thanks to two warm vintages (2005 and 2007) and a handful of producers really pushing the quality envelope. The region is getting its due for its red wines too now — at least here and there. Here's a wine from the more "normal" 2008 vintage that further proves how silly it is to generalize when it comes to wine. Heron Hill Winery 2008 Cabernet Franc…
Red Newt Cellars 2007 Sawmill Creek Vineyards Cabernet Franc
By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief David Whiting's single-vineyard program at Red Newt Cellars, where he is winemaker and co-owner, bears watching. Sure, the wines are priced too high for daily drinking — the cab francs, merlot and Gewurztraminers are all around $40. But, these are small-production wines that display nicely the difference that vineyard site can make in finished wines. Maybe they are a bit geeky in that way, but the wine inside is sure to appeal to any wine lover. Still, it's fun to taste the two cab francs or the two Gewurztraminers side-by-side. Really interesting. Busting with black cherries,…
Roanoke Vineyards 2008 Barrel Tasting: Hard-Fought Mature Fruit Lead to Pretty, Elegant Wines
Members of the Roanoke Vineyards wine club tasting 2008 reds in the Wolffer Estate cellar. By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief Friday night, on a cold, windy East End night, I joined 20 or so members of Roanoke Vineyards' wine club at Wolffer Estate Vineyards (where Roanoke's wines are made) to taste Roanoke Vineyards' 2008 reds from barrel. It was part wine club event, part futures tasting — the winery's first — and offered an excellent opportunity to taste these wines for the first time. Plus, it's always a pleasure to taste and talk with winemaker Roman Roth and Roanoke Vineyards co-owner,…
Zugibe Vineyards 2007 Cabernet Franc
By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief Zugibe Vineyards is one of the newest producers in the Seneca Lake wine community, only opening their tasting room in November, so don't feel bad if you haven't heard of them. I hadn't either until Brendan Zugibe, one of three Zugibe brothers responsible for the winery, commented on a post a while back. Planted in 2005, Zugibe Vineyards began as 23 acres of vinifera wine grapes, but has since grown to 40 acres. They grow 11 varieties, including riesling, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, gewurztraminer, pinot gris, chardonnay, merlot, Blaufrankisch, sauvignon blanc and gruner veltliner.…
Dr. Konstantin Frank 2007 Cabernet Franc
By Lenn Thompson, Long Island Editor and Editor-in-Chief To most wine lovers outside of New York (and even many in New York) Dr. Konstantin Frank Viniifera Wine Cellars is synonymous with Finger Lakes wine. Dr. Frank's is one of the region's largest, best and most widely distributed producers. Of course, the winery is best known for its riesling bottlings, followed closely by Gewurztraminer and, partly because it's unique and partly because it's unique — Rkatsiteli. Today's review isn't of any of those well-regarded wines. Instead, we'll focus on a ripe, polished Dr. Konstantin Frank 2007 Cabernet Franc ($20) that still…
WBW #61: Lieb Family Cellars 2007 Bridge Lane Cabernet Franc
By Lenn Thompson, Long Island Editor and Editor-in-Chief Lieb Family Cellars, a small North Fork winery with a tasting room tucked into the front of the Premium Wine Group complex, was one of the wineries that first inspired me to start writing about wine more than five years ago. It was the first winery I had visited on Long Island where I enjoyed every wine in the lineup. In fact, Nena and I joined the wine club after that first visit. So, when I was trying to decide what winery to visit for Wine Blogging Wednesday #61: At the Source,…
Bedell Cellars 2007 Cabernet Franc
By Lenn Thompson, Founder and Editor-in-Chief It's pretty easy to tell that Kelly Urbanik, winemaker at Bedell Cellars, took over primary winemaking duties with the 2007 vintage. Why is it so easy? The wines have a lot less overt oak character. At least the finished wines that I've tasted so far. I'm not anti-oak, but I think that some of the Bedell wines before Kelly took over were too aggressively oaked, especially the chardonnays and cabernet franc. On the nose, this Bedell Cellars 2007 Cabernet Franc ($25) is intensely ripe with dark, dense fruit — black raspberry and black cherry —…
Palmer Vineyards 2006 Proprietor’s Reserve Cabernet Franc
By Lenn Thompson, Founder and Editor-in-Chief Miguel Martin, the Spanish-born winemaker who joined Palmer Vineyards just in time for the 2006 harvest, has already impressed with what he's done with the winery's white wine program, especially sauvignon blanc and blended whites. Those wines, of course, go from field to glass much more quickly than do reds. We've had to wait a big longer for those, but one of Martin's first reds, Palmer Vineyards 2006 Proprietor's Reserve Cabernet Franc ($25), impressed in a tasting earlier this week. 2006 wasn't a great year for reds on the North Fork. It was cooler…
Mattebella Vineyards 2008 Rose
By Lenn Thompson, Founder and Editor-in-Chief Today's tasting note is going to be a quick one about a new release from Mattebella Vineyards, a producer you'll be reading about more here on LENNDEVOURS soon. This Mattebella Vineyards 2008 Rose ($15) is primarily merlot (92%) with a small percentage of cabernet franc (8%), and it tastes like many Long Island roses tastes — mostly of strawberries. The nose is dominatedly almost completely by grocery store strawberry aromas with a touch of red apple skin in the background. Medium-bodied and dry, this isn't a wimpy rose. Again, strawberries dominate with a light…