Nov 10th 2008
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Vintage: 2005
Purchased: Mar 1st 2008
Price: $24.00
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Tasting Notes:
This is a wonderful cabernet franc. It might not be the best value, as similar examples from the Loire can often be found for less money, but I like to support my local wine makers. This is a bright garnet color, but translucent. There is tons of black raspberry flavor, with a hint of bitter greeness on the back end that I like. There also is an aroma of fresh pencil shavings.
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Oct 7th 2008
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Vintage: 1990
Purchased: Feb 29th 2008
Price: $38.74
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Tasting Notes:
For Kathrine's birthday we brought this along with us to eat at a local French restaurant,
Cremant. The wine was a light red in the glass and completely transparent. Darker than a rose, but much lighter than most red wine produced today. The nose was complete barnyard and manure. It was not unpleasant, but was strikingly strong. As the night wore on, the barnyard started to blow off and fade to the background leaving scents of smoke, cedar, and bright tart cherries. The wine was extremely tasty. The first flavors were of cherries and bright red fruit. On the midpalate I found a slight green vegetal character and notes of sun dried tomato. Kathrine detected more of a tin/metallic flavor. The finish was quite long with the soft tannins fading away to the great acidity and lingering smokey and cedar flavors. As the night wore on, it opened up even more with the cherry flavor brightening up; and it even started gaining a cherry pit flavor as well. This was not the best wine I've ever had, but it was one of the most interesting.
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Jul 30th 2008
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Vintage: 2005
Purchased: Dec 3rd 2007
Price: $14.93
Number on Hand: 1
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Tasting Notes:
I do love me some Loire Cabernet Franc. I love it so much it makes me talk like a redneck. This is an outstanding wine with a QPR off the chart.
The color is fairly dark and inky with aromas that just explode. There is a ton of juicy raspberry, with just a hint of green herb notes and even a little tar. In the mouth, the aromas are duplicated with a perfect acidity and just enough astringency from the tannins to keep everything in check. The finish is long with a bitter dark chocolate note.
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May 2nd 2008
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Vintage: 2004
Purchased: Aug 15th 2007
Price: $16.99
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Tasting Notes:
This is a different style of Loire Cabernet Franc than I'm used to. Where as most is lighter and a touch green, this is very concentrated and extracted. In the glass it's a dark inky purple that could be mistaken for a much more warm climated cab franc from Washington State. One sniff though, and you know it's a different beast. The first sent that hits you is saved pencil lead. Odd, but intriguing. It's rather closed at first but more aeration leads to dark fruit scents and a touch of flowers. In the mouth this is a concentrated wine! Tons of dark fruit mingle with a minerality that is just great. The tannins are there, but not over powering. The bright cranberry flavored acid cuts right though everything. The best part was how it evolved and opened as the night went on. This is a great wine at this price, and one that would probably benefit from extended aging.
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Feb 21st 2008
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Vintage: 2005
Purchased: Sep 1st 2007
Price: $34.99
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Tasting Notes:
I remember loving this wine at the winery. I also thought that it would be a good match with the course I was serving it with. This wine is labeled as a cabernet franc, but it's actually a blend of: 85% cabernet franc, 12% cabernet sauvignon, 3% syrah.
It is a deep opaque purple, almost black with a lighter purple ring. This is not a medium bodied cab franc in the style of Chinon. One look, swirl, and whiff, lets you know this is going to be full bodied and powerful. This is what I imagine Cheval Blanc being like.
The nose is fruity with black fruits dominating. I also smelled a bit of tobacco and chocolate. In the mouth, it starts very fruit forward with good acidity and blackberry flavors. A peppery component takes over and leads to quite a long finish. The finish contains the spice but also a bit of herbaceousness and some chocolate flavors.
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Nov 21st 2007
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Vintage: 2005
Purchased: May 4th 2007
Price: $9.99
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Tasting Notes:
I don't have a way with words that some people possess. Let's just say that I enjoyed this wine immensely. I will let John Rimmerman of Garagiste say it for me:
"From a select parcel of vineyards above the River Cher, the 2005 Prestige du Vigneron we offer below was the Liger d'Or winner (Gold Medal) for Touraine at the Loire Concours among very stiff competition - all for a wine that sells for $9.99. This is Cabernet Franc and Cot (Malbec) raised in tank and left to their own devices, without additions or subtractions. What you see is what you get and in a vintage like 2005, you get a lot. A lot of color, a lot of flavor and lot of intense, perfumed, deep fruit. Think of the pigment John Hancock used to sign the Declaration of Independence and this free-spirited wine will satisfy your curiosity in more ways than one. While this wine will not age as long as the Declaration, it should drink quite well for a number of years - at least the next 3-5 and possibly longer."
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Oct 24th 2007
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Vintage: 2005
Purchased: Mar 11th 2007
Price: $13.87
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Tasting Notes:
This wine has a very long name. But I'm here to help.
Cave des Vignerons de Saumur is the producer, I've had a fair number of their wines and they all seem to be fairly good.
Saumur-Champigny is the AOC in the Loire Valley that this wine comes from. "Les lieux dits" is basically the French way of saying that this wine comes from a single vineyard, in this case one called Les Poyeux. Like most of the red wines from the Loire, and nearly all the red wines from Saumur, this is cabernet franc. Wine Spectator also happened to give this wine 90 points, if you're into that.
This wine is a deep purple, almost inky black color in the glass, with a bright purple rim, and a slightly watery edge. The nose is tart black cherry, plums, and a slight perfume scent. In the mouth it is very fleshy with the same fruit flavors up front. The acidity is perfect with a long finish that evokes both chocolate and olives. As bad as that sounds, it's actually wonderful.
This is a superb value, and a great example why cabernet franc is becoming one of my favorites.
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Sep 10th 2007
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Vintage: 2005
Purchased: Mar 1st 2007
Price: $9.99
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Tasting Notes:
We ordered a pizza and needed a good wine to go with it. You would normally think an Italian wine, probably something based on barbera or sangioviese. Of course, cabernet franc from the Loire also has some of those feature. Specifically the high acid, so I thought I'd try this.
It was a light cranberry color in the glass, semi-transparent. The nose was kind of muted. It smelled hot at first, but that blew off quickly. I could smell a whiff of menthol and a slight earthiness, but there was very little there. On the palate it was quite nice. Light and refreshing with cherry and cranberry flavors and a great acid. There were almost no tannins to speak of. There was a slight earthiness to the finish, but it was very pleasant.
This is a great everyday wine.
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Aug 14th 2007
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Vintage: 2003
Purchased: Jun 10th 2007
Price: $12.60
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Tasting Notes:
I opened this up to go with some salmon and rice that Kathrine cooked. Then I slowly drank it over a few days. I remember really liking this when I tried it at the winery, but this time it didn't seem as good.
In the glass it was a nice purple color and seemed thicker than I remembered. The fruit was muted. What fruit I could detect was cherry and blackberry. There was also a dill and menthol smell that was not unpleasant. I could also sense a whiff of tobacco. The nose wasn't the problem. In the mouth it was more robust than I had thought and seemed a little tight. The fruit was very far in the background mingling slightly with the herbal tastes. I almost got a stewed tomato flavor that was not very pleasant. The finish was long with roasted flavors of chocolate and coffee and a nice tannic structure. It didn't have quite enough acid to be balanced though.
As the wine developed over the next few days, it did get better. The fruit came out a little more, the stewed tomato flavors blew off, and the finish became longer and more complex. Unfortunately, there still was not enough acid for it to be balanced. In the end, it came off as being slightly flabby.
I'm not sure what I was thinking when I tasted this at the winery. Maybe I shouldn't taste wine at 10:30 in the morning!
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Not Yet Tasted
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Vintage: 2006
Purchased: Jun 20th 2008
Price: $26.00
Number on Hand: 1
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Tasting Notes:
N/A
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