Cabernet Franc

\Cab-air-nay FrahN\ (French) This French variety is much blended with and overshadowed by the more widely planted Cabernet Sauvignon. Cabernet Franc tends to be lighter in color and tannins, and is therefore earlier maturing than Cabernet Sauvignon, although the world’s greatest Cabernet Franc dominated wine, Cheval Blanc proves that majestic durability is also possible. It is typically light to medium bodied with more immediate fruit than Cabernet Sauvignon.

In the U.S., it has adapted well to our cooler areas, especially the northeast and Great Lakes regions. In particular, Long Island, with its maritime climate, has produced excellent Cabernet Franc. It does well as both a varietal wine and as a component of Bordeaux-type blends.

Recent research now tells us that Cabernet Sauvignon is actually the progeny of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc, and not vice-versa, as previously believed. The often overly austere and closed nature of Cabernet Sauvignon, particularly in its youth, benefits from the addition of complementary varieties like Cabernet Franc, which can mitigate these hard, fairly unpleasant qualities. Cab Franc tends to be less deeply colored, and more obviously aromatic and fruity in its youth, with flavors of raspberries, cherries, plums, strawberries, violets, currants and herbs. When blended with the more astringent Cabernet Sauvignon, this less tannic grape also allows some of Cabernet Sauvignon’s more reclusive charms to come to the fore.

Wherever Cabernet Franc is bottled as a varietal, it makes a leaner, fresher style of Cabernet, designed for earlier consumption. In cooler regions, Cabernet Franc’s earlier ripening is a significant advantage over Cabernet Sauvignon, which may not fully ripen there. It is this factor that makes Cabernet Franc the preferred Cabernet in the shorter season of cool-climate vineyards like those of the northeast and the Great Lakes.