Wines made from Cabernet franc grapes of Port Phillip
Discover the best wines made with Cabernet franc as a single variety or as a blend of Port Phillip.
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.
Port Phillip is a qualitatively significant wine-producing zone in the Australian state of Victoria. Named for the bay it surrounds, it benefits both from its location near the state capital Melbourne and the high quality of its Terroir, which produces some of Australia's most important wines, Particularly in the Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula GIs (Geographical Indications). Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are among the most important grape varieties made here with Australia's favorite grape variety Shiraz also figuring in the inventory. Like most large-scale wine zones, there is considerable variation in both topography and Climate throughout Port Phillip.
In the second part of this series, Decanter’s editorial team members highlight the wines they are looking forward to tasting at the upcoming Decanter Fine Wine Encounter NYC on Saturday 18th June 2022. Tina Gellie – Content Manager and Regional Editor (US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand & South Africa) Burrowing Owl, Cabernet Sauvignon, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada 2019 In 2016, while on a press trip to British Columbia’s Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys, I had the pleasur ...
Josh Jensen was famed for producing elegant, silky Pinot Noirs at Calera Wine Company on the Central Coast. Leading wine critic Robert Parker Jr once described Calera – the company that Jensen founded in 1971 – as ‘California’s Romanée-Conti.’ Jensen completed undergraduate studies at Yale, but his love of fine wine blossomed while completing an MA in social anthropology at Oxford University in the UK. He was a key member of the rowing crew at both universities, but he still found time to devel ...
It’s no exaggeration to say that in 2022, the majority of wines I sampled – and many that I drank and enjoyed – were Napa Cabernets. Looking back over my notes during the months compiling the 2019 Napa Cabernet vintage report, I spent valuable time tasting with several of Napa’s top winemaking talents. I spent time with Jean Hoefliger, Nigel Kinsman, Thomas Rivers Brown, Atelier Melka’s Maayan Koschitzky, consultant winemaker Julien Fayard, Harlan’s Cory Empting and Bob Levy, just to ...