Loire Valley Cabernet Franc

When I asked if he had an email address, Nady Foucault lowered his head, twirled his moustache, and replied sarcastically that “even a portable phone is an unnecessary concession to the modern world.” With his brother Charlie, he is the driving force behind Clos Rougeard, a producer whose name has reached almost mythical proportions for amateurs of cabernet franc. Hidden in the center of Chacé behind a nondescript metal gate without even a sign of its existence on the letterbox lies an estate that fans consider to be the Romanée-Conti of the Loire Valley. But like the variety they cultivate, the Foucaults could hardly be more unpretentious.

Some grapes command great respect in the eyes of consumers; others are hardly known or even ignored. In spite of being part and parcel of many of the most expensive red wines in the world, Cabernet Franc clearly belongs to the latter category. Often conflated with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc never seems to get the spotlight. Collectors shun it and many critics barely acknowledge its presence.

In Bordeaux, which boasts almost half of the 36,000 hectares of Cabernet Franc planted in France, it is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. On the Loire, on the other hand, it is generally bottled on its own. Somewhat lighter than Cabernet Sauvignon, it traditionally makes a pale red wine of considerable finesse. Depending on the growing region and style, its aromatic spectrum runs the gamut from white pepper to sweet tobacco, raspberry, graphite and violet. Highly sensitive to yield, it can also, when overcropped, bring forth wines with green, vegetal notes that are often described as leafy or even with the more pejorative term bell pepper. Not surprisingly, some consumers have written it off as thin and weedy.

Biodynamic vineyards at Roches Neuves

A feminine grape. Although not an enthusiast of sexual stereotyping, Jancis Robinson writes that Cabernet Franc could be described as the “feminine side of Cabernet Sauvignon.” She goes on, in her lyrical voice, to hint that it is “subtly fragrant and gently flirtatious rather than massively muscular.” Yes, Cabernet Sauvignon has so much more body, tannin, alcohol and color that it is often considered superior, but, like me, Robinson has a soft spot for its more charming, aromatic character.

Although the first records of Cabernet Franc in Bordeaux date from the end of the 18th century, it might have been planted along the Loire before that time. In 1997 genetic fingerprinting done by Carole P. Meredith at the University of California/Davis proved definitively that Cabernet Franc is one of the parents of Cabernet Sauvignon, the other being Sauvignon Blanc. Thus, Cabernet Franc must predate Cabernet Sauvignon by a (long) while.

Interestingly, José Vouillamoz, a student of Meredith and now even better known for his own research on the genetic origins of grape vines, places its ancestral home in the Basque country of the western Pyrenees. How it could have made its way to the Loire Valley before establishing itself in Bordeaux remains a mystery should it be true.