Project Cabernet Franc, 2008: The Walk-Round Tasting
Following on from the introduction and tasting, described here, I had the opportunity to taste another two dozen wines selected by the tasting panel of Sam Harrop, Jim Budd, Jamie Goode and Sam Caporn to be Project Cabernet Franc Ambassadors. There was also an invitation to retaste the ten wines previously presented which were also lined up, and although I would normally jump at the chance to do this time constraints – I had a flight out of London that afternoon – meant I eschewed the retasting opportunity.
The wines are presented here more or less in the order in which they were presented, although I have reorganised slightly so that the notes flow from Anjou, through Saumur, and then to the Touraine appellations. As before, I have also included a few winemaking notes on soils, maceration, fermentation temperature and élevage, but not all the intricacies; I have notes on extraction, yeast strains used if that was the case, distribution, technical analysis and so on, so contact me if you are interested in these data.
Overall the wines with a mixed bunch, with a small handful of very successful bottles interposed among many workaday wines which were largely serviceable and would certainly be drinkable. There were also, however, one or two horrors, including one wine which smelt of nothing but rubber. Interestingly I also noted one corked bottle which I discovered at the end of the tasting; quite dead on the nose, but certainly corked on the palate, and comparison with the second bottle showed it to be very different.
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