December 20, 2014 – The five components of Bordeaux Blends: Cabernet Franc

Back in 2011, Hendry Winery offered a blending kit for a reasonable price.  The kit consisted of five half-bottles of 2007 red wines, each 100% of a single grape variety.  The idea is that you host a party where each person tries their hand at a blend of the five varietals to see what comes up.  Lacking enough wine-geek friends to drink that much wine in one sitting, I instead decided to open them one-by-one to learn the characteristics of each wine.  In May 2012, when they put it on sale, I decided to pick up a kit. 

 

2007 Hendry Blending Kit 100% Cabernet Franc

Tonight I opened the second of the five half-bottles, a 2007 Cabernet Franc.  This wine is a blending wine, often blended into Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot to lend a little lift to the fruit, and some interest to the nose.  Even when it is sold as its own varietal, it has some Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon blended in to lend the wine some richness and depth.  I wasn’t certain what to expect from this wine, but from what I had heard from winemakers, I wasn’t expecting much.  … and I was right.  The fruit on this wine was really quite tasty, although it was not quite vintage typical.  The flavors tended more towards cherry pie and baking spices and lacked any suggestion of blueberry.  The palette was where this wine was lacking.  The fruit performed wonderfully on entry, but on the mid-palette and the finish, the wine became un-dimensional, lacking any kind of structure or complexity.  While uninspiring on its own, it is clear the role that this wine plays in improving the experience when blended into Cabernet Sauvignon.  I have experienced this same effect during the component barrel tasting events at Ridge winery.