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July 22, 2006

03 Walla Walla Vintners, Cabernet Franc

If joy begets respect and respect love, then I love this wine. What begins as a playfully oak-driven, Napa-esque fruit bomb becomes a watermark on the sheets of cabernet franc. With a group of close friends, we all thought this was Napa cab--like all but one WWV wine, it's saturated with creamy, mint-chocolately, varietal-confusing oak--until we couldn't find any hint of dark fruit. What a diversion it is, ultraripe with the great leathery flavors of cabernet, but locked to brighter essences of cherry and syrah-like red fruit. It's confounding--seemingly over-oaked and hedonistic, but still remarkably layered. I've lauded several new Chinons for their ability to fit right into a blind tasting of Bordeaux and have none be the wiser. Try the Walla cab franc against great Napa cab and see if anyone flinches. Thank you, Drew.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can't believe you used the phrase "watermark on the sheets."

3:30 PM  
Blogger 750 mL said...

...as in paper sheets, of course--though I do enjoy the ambiguity.

3:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

...that's what we've heard.

8:18 PM  
Blogger John said...

the WWV cab franc is my "desert island" wine. If i could only take one wine with me... you know the rest! I take that wine all over and introduce friends and restaurant owners to it. Nobody has ever NOT loved it. Good call!

11:01 PM  

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