Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
The Foucault brothers took over their family’s estate in 1969 and continue to produce legendary cabernet franc. They farm organically and make their wines without adding yeast, without racking, fining or filtering. Their 2008 shows fine evolution, its rooty, rich flavors seemingly ready to drink when first poured, then gaining freshness over the course of a day. The wine’s silken texture and bright red fruit suggest there’s further evolution to come. Or decant it now for duck over farro and red cabbage.
Cabernet Franc, a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon, is the subtler and more delicate of the Cabernets. Today Cabernet Franc produces outstanding single varietal wines across the wine-producing world. Somm Secret—One of California's best-kept secrets is the Happy Canyon appellation of Santa Barbara. Here Cabernet Franc shines as a single varietal wine or in blends, expressing sumptuous fruit, savory aromas and polished tannins.
Marked by great châteaux built with the same tuffeau limestone that is also responsible for the excavation of so many of the famed Loire caves, Saumur is famous for its Chenin blanc based sparkling wines. Inside the Saumur region, Saumur-Champigny creates some of the Loire’s greatest Cabernet Francs.