cabernet franc query

originally posted by VS:
Get really exotic - there's one, and only one, 100% cabernet franc made in Spain - Augustus Cab Franc, from the coastal fringe, right on the Mediterranean, of the Peneds DO in Catalonia. Pretty good actually.
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vs, i've tracked down another penedes producer, aljibes. any comments?

thanks!
 
originally posted by Steve Edmunds:
Can't resist. The '09 Bebam I made with Don Heistuman, which is 95% Cab Franc, and the rest Gamay, is too good to leave out of this conversation. But you won't know that till Don releases the wine, whenever he does. When he does, it will make your hearts glad.
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Ah, wines!
 
originally posted by Nicolas Mestre:
Has anyone tried these Virginia wines/wineries in the very recent past?

There are a lot of recommendations that, frankly, surprise me coming from the "no spoof" crowd out there.
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Not very recent, (8 years), but I haven't been impressed. Oak-fruit-and fox, not my cup of tea.
 
I wonder if people think they are picking up foxiness in Virginia reds. I have certainly noted it in wines made from native varieties, but not in their vinifera. Many have dialed back the oak (though some have dialed it up - Kluge anyone) in recent years.

8 years is a long time in a young wine region.
 
originally posted by robert ames:


vs, i've tracked down another penedes producer, aljibes. any comments?
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Heck, Los Aljibes is not in Peneds but in La Mancha, just 30 miles south of me in Chinchilla de Montearagn, and about 10 miles from our alicante bouschet vineyard... Shows you how ignorant I can be - they have indeed been making a cab franc since 2006, as I see. But I have never tasted it.
 
originally posted by David M. Bueker:
I wonder if people think they are picking up foxiness in Virginia reds. I have certainly noted it in wines made from native varieties, but not in their vinifera. Many have dialed back the oak (though some have dialed it up - Kluge anyone) in recent years.

8 years is a long time in a young wine region.
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I think I pick up foxiness and from the vinifera reds as well. Of course, since, while I might be wrong that it's there, I can't be wrong that I pick it up, perhaps I should say I know I pick up foxiness.
 
I've never picked up foxiness from unblended VA vinafera-based wines. Loads of bad wine-making, spoof, and unripe grapes, but not foxiness.
 
originally posted by Nicolas Mestre:
Has anyone tried these Virginia wines/wineries in the very recent past?

There are a lot of recommendations that, frankly, surprise me coming from the "no spoof" crowd out there.
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I had Horton's wines recently, and quite liked the Petit Manseng and Rkatskeli; also had decent Viognier, Roussane, Touriga Nacional and (of all things) blueberry wine.

I also had the tasting menu with wine pairings at the excellent restaurant Palladio at Barboursville vineyards. The wines were all competent. The Sauvignon Blanc was correct, good balance, fresh grassy-citrus fruit. The Viognier was OK, surprisingly subdued. Good full-bodied Tavelish rose'. Don't recall the red.
 
I'm not Christian, but perhaps you're aware of the French adjective 'correct' which has a number of interesting uses that are not always apparent to English speakers.

For example, the one that always got me was 'un salaire correct' - which I suppose should be translated as 'average salary' but because of my connotations with the English word correct it sounded like a normative claim was being made for what this person's average salary should be able to provide. I.E. a working man's salary should be able to afford x.

Anyway, enough of the digressions. For wine it usually means something decent and drinkable but nothing special.
 
originally posted by Nicolas Mestre:
It makes me uncomfortable when people refer to wines as "correct."

Please explain what this means, if you would be so kind.
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Rahsaan's correct (ha-ha), I was using it in the French sense, indicating something between "as it should be" and "sufficient/adequate". Not sure why it popped out when writing my tasting notes. Now that I think about the wine vs. the slight note of disdain that often creeps into that word when I hear it used, it was a little better than that.
 
originally posted by Nicolas Mestre:
Let me get this straight: You both use the term "correct" to describe a wine that is simultaneously generic and mediocre?
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One hears the term standardly in French to mean a wine with no flaws that is, well, standard. Pretty much what Rahsaan said. And I'll add myself to the list that uses the word this way with regard to wine. I don't think it connotes mediocre, though. That's your addition based on, I guess, your evaluation of VA wines.
 
No, it's not my addition based on evaluating VA wine, it is my interpretation of both Rahsaan's and Christian's description of the word in their posts:

Rahsaan: decent and drinkable, but nothing special

Christian: sufficent/adequate

Sounds like mediocrity to me.

How do you interpret that?
 
mediocre - of middling quality, neither good nor bad. second rate.

correct - true, right, accurate. proper, right. in accordance with standards of good taste.

Sounds to me like there is a lot of wiggle room there based on context.
Best, Jim
 
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