WineAlign - Awards - 2017 NWAC Cabernet Franc

Results of the 2017 WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada (The Nationals)

Cabernet Franc

Intro by Michael Godel

Cabernet Franc is getting better all the time. In British Columbia the coolest sites are increasingly raising fresh, spirited and ultimately crushable wines with unmistakeable west coast accents; savour, garrigue and mountain tea. With thanks to venn diagram circles drawn in and out of Niagara’s Lincoln Lakeshore, but also magically deep into the Prince Edward County limestone, the great Ontario hope is developing into what we thought it might be. Getable and structured red wine.

New World cabernet franc growing sites produce less delineation as compared to the various lieux-dites in the varietal homeland, France’s Loire Valley. Niagara is beginning to enter into an Old World state of mind, so now winemakers and by extension wine geeks, are posturing over micro-terroirs; Niagara-on-the-Lake, Beamsville Bench, Niagara Escarpment, St. David’s Bench, Lincoln Lakeshore, Four Mile Creek. The same is happening in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley although the cumulative stylistic is worlds (four provinces to be exact) apart. In Nova Scotia Benjamin Bridge Vineyards’ viticultural and vinifying braintrust of Jean-Benoit Deslauriers and Scott Savoy are allocating serious resources to cabernet franc in the Gaspereau Valley. But how is it that decisions are made as to where to plant this crisp, juicy and crunchy grape? While many will disagree, if you consider growing sites as circles within a Venn Diagram, in Canadian soils the shared subtleties can easily get buried or muddled within the common areas. The lines may be drawn but the web is tangled. That said, the story of franc terroir is getting clearer and clearer.

At this most recent NWAC17 judging experience the results from cabernet franc paints a more palatable picture than those brushed by both merlot and cabernet sauvignon. We are collectively impressed with and solidly behind the direction growers and winemakers are taking with this noble varietal. The 546 acres planted in B.C. are rising steadily and if I were merlot I’d be looking in the rear-view mirror. In Ontario more than 4,000 tonnes were harvested in 2015, third to only chardonnay and riesling. Four of five Gold Medals were Ontario in origin, 10 of 16 were awarded Silver and 10 of 17, Bronze. While only four in Ontario are labled “LL,” no less than 10 of the 24 winners were made with at least some significant amount of fruit grown in the Lincoln Lakeshore/Beamsville Bench circle of commonality. The sites we want to call “cru” are no longer a mystery.

Fielding 2015 Estate Bottled Cabernet Franc, Lincoln Lakeshore, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Harper’s Trail 2015 Cabernet Franc Thadd Springs Vineyard, Thompson Valley, British Columbia
Kacaba 2015 Founder’s Select Cabernet Franc, Niagara Escarpment, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Peller Estates Niagara-on-the-Lake 2015 Private Reserve Cabernet Franc, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Tawse 2013 Cabernet Franc Laundry Vineyard, Lincoln Lakeshore, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario

Bordertown 2014 Cabernet Franc, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
D.H.E.W. Grand Bend 2015 One Horse Town 2015 Cabernet Franc, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Domaine Queylus 2014 Cabernet Franc Tradition, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Domaine Queylus Cabernet Franc Réserve 2014, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Honsberger 2014 Cabernet Franc, Creek Shores, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Inniskillin Okanagan 2014 Cabernet Franc Dark Horse Vineyard, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Lang Vineyards 2015 Cabernet Franc, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Meldville Wines 2015 Cabernet Franc , Lincoln Lakeshore, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Orofino 2016 Pozza Vineyard Cabernet Franc, Similkameen Valley, British Columbia
Peller Estates Niagara-on-the-Lake 2014 Andrew Peller Signature Series Cabernet Franc, Four Mile Creek, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Potter Settlement 2016 Cabernet Franc, Hastings County, Ontario
Thirty Bench 2014 Small Lot Cabernet Franc Estate Vineyard, Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Tinhorn Creek 2014 Cabernet Franc, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Tinhorn Creek 2014 Oldfield Reserve Cabernet Franc, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Trius 2014 Showcase Red Shale Cabernet Franc Clark Farm Vineyard, Four Mile Creek, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Two Sisters 2013 Cabernet Franc Estate, Niagara River, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario