Lesson #1 — Cabernet Franc

Each Friday we head over to the amazing Stellar Wine Company in the Lakeview, Chicago for a guided tasting. This week we tried (amongst many others) a beautiful Cabernet Franc and here’s what we learned:

1. Apparently it tastes like bell pepper! — I haven’t quite been able to pick up bell pepper in wines yet :( so I think next week I’m going to buy some to smell/taste next to wines to fix this problem…you’d be surpirised how many tastings notes have bell pepper!
2. The Loire Valley in France specializes producing the single varietal Cab Franc. Regions such as Bordeaux use the grape heavily, but as a blending grape with Merlot. Neat stuff! Bordeaux is still a bit intimidating for me, but we’ll get there.
3. The Colchagua Valley in Chile has a warmer climate which affects the taste of the wine. If you do a side-by-side sipping session with a Cab Franc from France and Chile, you’ll probably notice that the warmer climate grapes are much riper…which causes it to taste more acidic and fruitier!
4. If you’re into food pairings, this will go great with chicken curry and goat cheese. Who knew?!

That’s all for now!

Sip Happy,
- Sean