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Franc-ly Speaking

The 'other' cabernet grape is taking its rightful place on our tables

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BARRY WONG With flavors of coffee and berries, and an earthier quality than its cousin cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc has gained vineyard space and fans in Washington. Wines courtesy of McCarthy & Schiering Wine Merchants

THERE ARE TWO schools of thought regarding cabernet franc. If you say cabernet fronk (rhymes with wonk), you belong to the more erudite group. "Originally," you might say, "cabernet fronk came from the Bordeaux region of France, where it is a key component in the great wines of St. Emilion and Pomerol. In addition, it is the major red-wine grape of the Loire Valley." And so on.

If, on the other hand, you say cabernet frank, well, you, my friend, are an egalitarian, a regular sort who plops old cab franc right down at the table with the other red grapes. Frank or fronk, it doesn't really matter. This is a grape that can be quite interesting all by itself or as the mainstay of a red blend. And these days, it's waaay more "in" than its cousin, cabernet sauvignon.

But let's be frank about franc. Franc's not for everyone. Chinons and Bourgueils from the Loire can be thin and green and acidic in cooler vintages. New World cab francs from East Coast vineyards are far too vegetal for most West Coast palates.

Good West Coast cab franc, on the other hand, displays appealing scents of fresh-ground coffee and ripe, tangy, berry-flavored fruit — particularly blueberries. In all other ways, it is squarely in the cabernet camp, oftentimes showing pretty floral/herbal nuances, and occasionally falling into the stemmy or vegetal side of herbaceous. Light olive, leaf or forest-floor aromas are fine in a cab franc; it's keeping them balanced against some riper fruit that is the trick. California and Washington seem to do it best.

I think of it as cabernet sauvignon's more tannic, earthy cousin. When properly ripened, franc's fruit suggests berries more than cab's cherries or plums. Here in Washington, it was not planted in sufficient quantities to be statistically relevant until 1993, when a few wineries began using it in their "Bordeaux" blends. Today it ranks fourth for red-grape production behind cabernet sauvignon, merlot and syrah — a distant fourth to be sure.

To sample some of the best


Try these cab franc-driven proprietary red-wine blends:

Buty 2003 "52% Merlot & 48% Cabernet Franc"; $35. Sleek, smooth, substantial; blend of cassis and wild berry fruit. Cadence 2003 "Bel Canto" Red Wine; $50. Half cab franc, 40 percent merlot and the rest petit verdot. Supple fruit, Asian spices. Mark Ryan 2003 "Long Haul" Red; $37. merlot, cab franc, and petit verdot; meaty and tannic, lively and rich.

O• S Winery 2003 Sheridan Vineyard "Ulysses" Red; $50. cabernet franc, merlot,and cabernet sauvignon. A big boy, with layers of extracted fruit and aromas of dried herbs, mineral, leaf and coffee.

Windy Point 2003 "Exclamation Point!" Red Wine; $15. Not as substantial as some of the pricier blends; flavors of coffee, blackberry, light herb and damp earth.

Basel Cellars 2003 Red Wine; $36. Half and half merlot/cab franc; firm and tannic with green tea and tobacco scents; blackberry, black cherry and roasted coffee.

Despite its growing popularity with winemakers, cab franc tonnage peaked at 3,300 in 2001 and has actually come down a bit since. So if you're looking for these wines you'll find that, although overall quality is very good, quantities are low. If you really want to get some, contact the wineries mentioned here and find out when they plan to release the next vintage.

More up-and-comers


Here are some recommended cabernet francs:

2002 Arbor Crest Cabernet Franc; $16. Firm, smooth and chocolatey, with a defining streak of roasted coffee. Barrister 2003 Cabernet Franc; $24. Concentrated layers of boysenberry and blackberry.

Chatter Creek 2003 Alder Ridge Vineyard Cabernet Franc; $20. Young, grapey fruit takes center stage. Fielding Hills 2003 Cabernet Franc; $26. Loaded with currant, cherry, cinnamon, chalk, earth, tobacco, graphite, butter, toast smoke, coffee.

O• S Winery 2003 Champoux Vineyard Cabernet Franc; $30. Coffee, tobacco and espresso aromas; light fruit flavors of berries and melon. Walla Walla Vintners 2002 Cabernet Franc; $25. Bright berry and cassis fruit, with smoke and licorice accents.

Most often you will discover that cab franc is added (usually in very small percentages) to wines labeled merlot or cabernet. This is done in order to boost the color or add some interesting aromas. In order for a wine to be labeled varietally (by the name of the grape) it must be at least 75 percent the named grape. But some of the best red wines in the state, from wineries such as Cadence, Mark Ryan, O• S and Buty, are blends of three or more grapes, none of which accounts for 75 percent of the total. So they are given proprietary names. Sometimes (see the list on page 8) these red blends contain a very high proportion of cabernet franc and clearly reflect its varietal character.

Chinook gets credit for making not only one of Washington's most distinctive cabernet francs but also a wonderful cab franc rosé, released each spring.

Paul Gregutt writes the Wednesday wine column for The Seattle Times and covers Northwest wine for the Wine Enthusiast magazine. Write to him at wine@seattletimes.com. Barry Wong is a Seattle-based freelance photographer. He can be reached at barrywongphoto@earthlink.net.