Niagara Cab Francs are big wines that take quite a bit of time to be approachable. These bad boys can singe your pallet with teeth coating tannins and long tastes that make these wines a real hard wine to pair with food (sometimes). In France Cab Franc is used as a blending grape, often with little of it necessary to give a wine a higher degree of age-ability, more complexity etc.
This wine is not one of those. Inniskillin have done a postiively fabulous job of taming the tannins and creating one of the most “drink now” Cab Francs from Niagara I have ever had. Quite impressive really. In the glass the wine is inky dark. On the nose are some lovely dark fruits reminiscent of a cab sauv. On the mid pallet there are some subtle cab sauv like flavors, cherries, casis and chocloate. On the finish are some complex notes with tannins well under control. Alcohol and oak are also well in check. The finish was medium in length and very pleasant with no bitterness at all. This is a well made wine. I kept preparing myself for the harshness that never came. It paired extremely well with a sirloin steak. And the bottle disappeared in no time flat! I would give this an 90-91!
What winecurrent.com had to say:
13.0% alcohol Vic and I both loved the wine and the incredible value it offers. This is a fabulous Cabernet Franc from the great 2007 vintage! The optimal growing conditions and extended hang time created fully-ripened deeply flavorful fruit leading to a deep ruby red wine. The nose is ripe with rich berry fruit and peppery notes. It is full bodied with layers of flavor blackberries plums raspberries pepper. These are complemented by rich notes of cocoa and coffee beans. Its a scrumptious and robust wine yet balanced with well-integrated tannins and some refreshing acidity on the finish. At this price given the unique vintage a case might be in order. (Susan Desjardins) (91140) $16.95 Featured 12/5/2009. 5/5 stars
