Tag Archives: Cabernet Franc

Ata Rangi Célèbre 2005

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Ata Ranga is well-known for its Pinot Noir, so I was curious to give this blend of Martinborough and Hawkes Bay Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot a go. I have no idea why it’s called Célèbre.
The nose is very expressive and shows a seductive blend of violets, raw meat, dark berry fruits, spice (clove-like) and a good whack of oak. There’s good intensity here, and the balance is impressive (though perhaps with the oak showing too much after some time in glass). The palate again shows good balance and a focused line. The entry is immediately flavoursome and leads to a medium/full bodied middle palate showing intense, deliciously savoury dark fruits and mouthwatering astringency. The finish is especially lovely, and showcases very fine, chocolate-like tannins, framed by caramel/vanilla oak and quite prominent sappiness.
This is an elegant wine, full of flavour and tightly structured. It lacks the complexity of the very best wines, but is seductive and balanced. I asked myself whether there was an element of underripeness, but if there is, for my taste it is question of style rather than fault. It went well with our dinner of beef and roasted vegetables, the fruit having no issues matching the intense beefy flavour of the lovely New Zealand meat.
Ata RangiPrice: $NZ32Closure: StelvinDate tasted: December 2007

Pascal Delaunay Rosé d'Anjou 2005

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I bought this wine because it is under screwcap. When it comes to bargain basement French wines, sometimes one needs to look for reasons to purchase. Perhaps I’m being a bit mean — this wine is super cheap, from a good year in the Loire, and its main grape is one you don’t get to taste in local wines: Grolleau (40%, with Gamay and Cabernet Franc both contributing a further 30%). I cracked this little number open to accompany Thai food.

The colour is quite watery, though not unattractive in its way. It’s sort of a faded peach colour. Excellent clarity. Moving on to the nose, there are faint aromas of floral fruitiness, with some spicy edges. That’s about the best way I can characterise it. No intensity here, but it’s clean and at least it smells good. The palate is again clean, but the lack of any real intensity of flavour becomes quite apparent. The wine just slips into your mouth, registers a few simple fruit flavours, and then it’s gone again. Sort of like a depressed singing telegram. Technically a demi-sec style, there’s a smidge of residual sugar to add body but, mercifully, no excess sweetness.

On the plus side, it’s a clean wine, well made, pretty. But terribly dilute. Food overwhelmed it a little. Serve this chilled at a casual summer lunch in lieu of Chateau Cardboard.

Pascal Delaunay
Price: $A8
Closure: Stelvin
Date tasted: December 2007

Picardy Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Franc 2005

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53% Merlot, 24% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Cabernet Franc. Australian Merlots are a curious beast – perhaps a little like Shiraz, they can tend to be chameleon-like, morphing with region and idea of style. This one is from Pemberton in Western Australia.

The nose immediately establishes the wine’s savoury flavour profile. Genuine complexity draws one back to smell repeatedly, with savoury black fruits, leafiness and cigar box oak flavours intermingling and constantly shifting around. The linear entry opens out to a palate of medium to full body, with full yet not terribly sweet black fruit sitting alongside the same mix of leafy/green olive notes and relatively prominent oak as seen on the nose. Flavours are quite dense and of reasonable intensity. The wine’s structure at this stage is assertive, both from an acid and tannin perspective. The tannins are quite interesting in character, being relatively abundant, ripe, and moderately (but not overly) fine. They have a nice rustic edge, in fact. The wine shows a nice line with no dips through the palate, and finishes with good length.

The wine responded extremely well to a strongly flavoured pasta dish, the structure calming a little and the power of the fruit shining through. This is a very good wine with, I think, good potential for improvement through bottle age. Blindingly good value.

Picardy
Price: $A20
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: November 2007

Clonakilla Ballinderry 2004

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One sniff of this wine takes me back to the Clonakilla cellar door, where I first tasted and subsequently purchased the 2004 Ballinderry. At the time, I wasn’t sure about the wine. It seemed to be almost completely dumb on the nose, much more so than previous vintages, but I have enjoyed this Clonakilla Bordeaux blend on so many occasions that I bought a few purely on past performance.

A couple of years on, and as I say, one sniff takes me back, because it’s still quite a tight wine in terms of its nose. It is, however, starting to unwind, the way a stripper starts by peeling back the outermost layers of clothing. So I’m told. Aromas of dark, perfumed fruit emerge from the glass, with edges of leafy cabernet character and spicy, cedary oak. Very tight, coiled, but by now leaking a little.

The wine’s entry is a bit misleading, in that it is quite easygoing and quickly moves on to an elegant, medium bodied palate of pure, fleshy red berry fruit. Good intensity and complexity of flavour. But just as you begin to suspect the wine is a bit of a sheep in wolf’s clothing, the fine, ripe but rather abundant tannins make themselves felt. They don’t exactly swamp the fruit, but they are very assertive at the moment, and create a lengthy, puckeringly dry finish.

It’s pretty clear to me that this wine’s best years are ahead of it, and I may well wait 2-3 years before trying it again. Really good potential on the basis of this bottle. I’m about to tuck in to a big rump steak now and it will be interesting to see how the wine responds.

Update: food didn’t do much to tame this wine’s structure. Perhaps only time can do that.

Clonakilla
Price: $35
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: November 2007

Cameron Hughes Lot 48 Meritage 2005

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Whoa. Clouds of rich, dark chocolate, bulldust, and black olive billow up in the glass, and there’s an almost perfumed character to the wine, with a slight sweetness – it’s not unlike vetiver or sage, albeit with a lovely, restrained edge. The color’s a lovely, dark purple with nearly visible particles towards the rim; it just looks expensive, somehow.

On the palate, the first thing that strikes me is the lovely texture: firm and round, followed shortly by flavor that I can honestly only describe as delicious. There are tastes of cassia, Kalamata olive, and cassis, and it all trails off into a clean finish with hints of tannin, acid, and a lovely sweetness, almost like violet pastilles mixed in with tahini. Best of all, the finish keeps going for a while, not resolving itself; it’s a fine drink.

Cameron Hughes
Price: US $9.99
Closure: Diam
Date tasted: November 2007

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For you Aussies out there, Meritage is American for “Bordeaux blend,” more or less. This also marks the first time I’ve seen an American wine closed with a Diam technical cork, which is awesome. Finally, it may interest you to know that we don’t have cleanskins – but Cameron Hughes is pioneering what y’all would call cleanskins in the US market. If you’re in the USA, you can probably find one or two of them at your local Costco, and they also do mail order (their Lot 39 Shiraz Viognier from the Barossa is probably the most incredibly fun $10 wine I’ve had this year).