Last night's neighborhood blind tasting. I served these six wines which represented, I thought, a nice swath of South and North America. As tie-ins, the starter Sauv Blancs were a Chilean (Los Vascos), a Californian (Guenoc Lake County), a Washington (Saviah) and a New Zealander for contrast.
Considering that I restricted the choices to the Americas, I probably couldn't have picked a more interesting lineup in that all six were distinctively different. There wasn't anyone in the room complaining that they couldn't tell them apart.
2012 Barrister Winery Cabernet Franc Columbia Valley
In the late 90's, two Spokane lawyers took their families on a trip to British Columbia. Along the way they stopped to buy some wine, and ended up with a winemaking kit and five pounds of Zinfandel grapes. They loved the result and voila, they turned winemakers. Their winery is located in Spokane. Big bodied, muscular and hedonistic. But my last place Cab Franc of six due to aggressive alcohol (14.6). $33.
2013 Tinhorn Creek Cabernet Franc Okanagan Valley VQA
Light in color, delicate in style. Has good herb presence rounded with mild malo. A pleasant sipper but even better with food. At a blind tasting of six bigger CFs, it outperformed the others at pairing with dilly-creamy Swedish meatballs. $23 (Canadian) It's lightness did poorly with the group but I gave it my 3rd place vote.
2014 Steele Wines Cabernet Franc Writer's Block Lake County
Tasty, balanced, medium bodied, with brambly raspberry and black cherry fruit plus licorice, and varietally correct CF at a bargain basement price! $15 where I live. Group 5th, my 4th.
2014 Bodega Catena Zapata Cabernet Franc Appellation San Carlos Mendoza
Has that weird skunky version of green olive top note on the aromatics that I have found in a few Chileans but never an Argentine before--four bottles were identical. Decanting early in day reduced it a little bit but did not eliminate; underneath is attractively rich sweet black currant fruit. However, due to the nose I expected this wine to come in last place as most of my tasters are new world centric and disliking any green flavors. Boy was I wrong: it was their first place (my fifth). $20
2012 Chinook Wines Cabernet Franc Yakima Valley
When I first moved to Washington and asked around about iconic wines to try, Chinook's Cab Franc was on the tip of several people's tongues and that's why I brought it in for this tasting. These wines aren't easy to find, winemaker Kay Simon and her husband Clay self-distribute. For this wine, she blends Estate fruit planted in 1991 with Boushey fruit planted in the 80's. This vintage exceeds my good memories of those earlier bottles, and it was my co-favorite along with the Andrew Will '13. Where the Andrew Will was more old school with mostly red fruits, the Chinook was more new world with a lot of blue fruit--concentrated raspberry and blueberry fruit, assertive yet feminine much like Kay herself; alc at just 13.0%, too. Her winery is located in Prosser. Two wonderful sides of the same coin. $25.
2013 Andrew Will Cabernet Franc Columbia Valley
Like Kay, Vashon Island winemaker Chris Camarda is a super fan of Cabernet Franc. So where Chris has moved toward grape and vineyard blends over the years, he still makes some stand-alone varieties and Cab Franc, from his Two Blondes vineyard, is one of them. This is a very sophisticated, somewhat old school (Bordeauxish) wine, mostly red fruit with hints of tobacco. Superb. And interestingly, the crowd agreed. The Catena slightly outscored this, but they had the same number of first place votes (14 each). $30.
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