Wines made from Cabernet franc grapes of Australie du Sud-Est
Discover the best wines made with Cabernet franc as a single variety or as a blend of Australie du Sud-Est.
Cabernet Franc is one of the oldest red grape varieties in Bordeaux. The Libourne region is its terroir where it develops best. The terroirs of Saint-Emilion and Fronsac allow it to mature and develop its best range of aromas. It is also the majority in many blends. The very famous Château Cheval Blanc, for example, uses 60% Cabernet Franc. The wines produced with Cabernet Franc are medium in colour with fine tannins and subtle aromas of small red fruits and spices. When blended with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, it brings complexity and a bouquet of aromas to the wine. It produces fruity wines that can be drunk quite quickly, but whose great vintages can be kept for a long time. It is an earlier grape variety than Cabernet Sauvignon, which means that it is planted as far north as the Loire Valley. In Anjou, it is also used to make sweet rosé wines. Cabernet Franc is now used in some twenty countries in Europe and throughout the world.
South East Australia is a geographical indication (GI) covering the entire south-eastern third of Australia. The western boundary of this area extends 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) across the Australian continent from the Pacific coast of Queensland to the Southern Ocean coast of South Australia. This vast wine 'super zone' effectively encompasses all the major Australian wine regions outside Western Australia. Rainforest, mountain ranges, scrubland, desert and Dry riverbeds occupy the majority of the land in the South East Australian area.
How do we define a great winemaking estate? Extraordinary terroir, winemaking excellence and a long track record for quality are three criteria that spring to mind. Clos de la Bonnette can only claim the first two, as Isabelle Guiller-Montabonnet has only been making wine since 2009. Scroll down to see Matt Walls’ tasting notes and scores for eight Clos de la Bonnette wines As for the third element, however, I suspect it’s only a matter of time. {"content":"PC9wPgo8cD48ZGl2I ...
While taller overall vines do exist in regions such as Galicia with their pergola training method, the roots of any vine usually top out at 37cm. It’s at this top point where the Vitis vinifera shoot is grafted in and continues to grow, giving us such grapes as Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay. This is opposed to the rootstocks which are composed of various crosses of vines such as Vitis rupestris which aren’t used for wine production but are resistant to the root louse, phylloxera. This new tal ...
Some Cornas estates, like Domaine Clape, feel as ancient and unchanging as the granite hills themselves. Others, like Domaine Alain Voge, go through periods of flux. When this is due to vineyards being ripped out, bought or sold, then the whole profile of an estate can be altered. That’s not the case at Voge. Instead, it’s due to the coming and going of people and the unavoidable change that entails. I visited Lionel Fraisse, the current managing director at Domaine Alain Voge, to taste a select ...