Always enjoy the juice from the Loire valley ,, going to get a white and a red to taste .. Will send in the results . Cab Franc is always flying under the radar dude. What a disappointment with the Larkin … Oh well

QotD: Only had a few Cabernet Francs, you are right, they are not for everyone. I will eventually try a CF from the Loire Valley, but not this week, so no I can’t promise you. 🙂

I have both a chinon and a bourgueil in the cellar but I have not tried them yet. As soon as I figure out what to pair them with, I’ll give them a go.

Wow…I feel bad for your friend! Course if he is a “playa” he probably doesn’t care what you think. ($60??!!)
I’ll try to find some Cab Franc this week.

I have never tried a Loire Valley red , but I would sure like to, I have thus far only had Loire Valley whites. Also, I have not yet tried a Cabernet Franc; I plan to, but I am not sure if it will be this week. I have only had small amounts Cabernet Franc in Bordeaux blends. I usually prefer my red wines blended with at least 3 to 4 different wine varietals and even a small amount of white wine blended with a red. To me it is UTOPIA when the blending is done well.

I doubt I’ll be hitting the Loire anytime soon as my list of wines to try is already way too large and I’m anal about going through them in order of when I promised myself I’d try them! I’ll add it to the list, though!

It’s good to hear that you read comments that come in late. I’m getting behind in my watching, let alone commenting, but I’m hoping to catch up.

I want to like wines that taste like green peppers, because I have acquired a lot of wine (mostly Bordeaux) that has gone in that direction as it has aged, but I can’t seem to get my head around green pepper wine. Maybe I just need to find the right food matches. I did try a green-pepper-tasting Chilean Carmenere with a chicken curry, and that worked surprisingly well.

As far as Loire Cab Francs are concerned, I bought about 3 cases of a Saumur-Chapigny (produced by Thierry Chancelle) for a week-long family reunion last summer, but it wasn’t very popular and I have about a case and a half left. I had tasted it in the store before buying it, and it didn’t strike me as huge-green-pepper at the time, but lately it has been coming off as green pepper reduction sauce.

The Cab Franc that I have liked the most lately has been from Northern Italy, rather than the Loire. The producer is Castelcosa in Venezia Giulia. I have met the owner, Marco Furlan, and he says that Cab Franc is one of his favorite grapes. He makes this one in a way that brings out a black pepper flavor to balance the green pepper, tomato leaf, and tobacco.

I am the missing link between the Vayner nation and the rest of the human beings.

Was that a bathtub duck that was squeaking at the beginning of the show?

I had a wine shop/bar close to home that recently went out of business. Now there is no place near home that I can sit down at and enjoy a bottle with friends after work. Granted, there are still several places to buy a few bottles but that place was a favorite of mine.

I went to two placess looking for a Loire Valley Cab Franc but no luck. The ONLY one I found was a Napa ’03 Carrefour. We quite enjoyed it. The nose was very deep and the initial taste had a lot of red berries and finished off with some slight tannins. Overall enjoyable. Probably not worth the $32 though.

GV – Thanks for this show! I love the poo – so I will revisit these areas. I’ll be in the Fingers this weekend – where the Cab Franc has not, IMO, come around. And I keep trying it – still too green. Yet – I have hope they will get better – so they can add a red to what they do well.

QOTD: I have had Chinon’s before and really do enjoy Cab Franc. I will definitely seek out and enjoy, if not this week, the near future. Wish you had a WL place here in NC.

Anyway, how do wine producers like Larkin think they can charge $60 and compete with the Loire Valley?? Seems a bit arrogant to me. Dont understand. No brainer. 3 bottles vs 1?? Even if the one was decent.

Later. Thanks Gary. And I too am glad you are reading all the comments.

QOTD: Gary – long time lurker, first time replier. I promise to pick up a CF up on the way home, that is if the store isn’t flooded. If it is, I’ll go Scuba Steve on the store.

Okay, okay. I’ll try to find one. (This hobby is so demanding!)

Okay, okay. I’ll try to find one. (This hobby is so demanding!)

GV, you KNOW I love the “Old World” wines better than the “New World”. I got over my soda pop addiction a long, long, long time ago. Excellent show. I think I am really going to like episodes 401-500! Keep up the great work!!

QOTD: If I cannot get one at the store, I will try one from my cellar. I think I have a couple of different Chinons down there. One from a local shop that I’ve tried and another from WL that I haven’t as yet. So I will in the next few days.

QOTD: I promise to look for a Bourgueil or Chinon to try “old world” vegetal wines, and come back here to give you the results.

Thanks GV! I love Cab Franc, been exploring the Long Islind producers of late. Now I will put the
Chinon and Bourguiel on my radar.

Good show. I really love Bourgeuil and Chinon too. Agree completely that the vegetal qualities put a lot of friends off. Have you had Chinon from Domaine du Raifault? They’re excellent.

BTW, have we ever had Bourgeuil or Chinon on free.winelibrary.com?

It must be really tough to score a friend’s wine poorly. I am surprised that you even do it, honestly. If I were in your shoes, I would avoid tasting wines that I wouldn’t want to score badly. In addition, if you were to score it highly, it would be suspect. Seems like a lose-lose. 🙂

But thanks for doing it anyways. 😉

Chris

http://cad-comic.com/comic.php?d=20080213

I will seek a Loire Valley Cab Franc and get back to you. I do like Napa Valley Cab Franc from Peju.

Must buy Loire. Must buy Loire. Must buy Loire. Must buy Loire.

My 1st Cab Franc was the 2004 Domaine de la Noblaie Chinon â??Les Chiens-Chienâ?? which you tasted on WLTV episode #200. Last night I went to a wine tasting featuring Meeker wines from CA. My 1st taste of the night was their Cab Franc. WOW, it was dirty & veggie. Meeker also makes a PV which was not part of the official tasting & didnâ??t have any there for sale. I told Mr. Meeker about you and your love for PV & that I never have tasted a PV. He said he had PV in his car & brought back two bottles of their â??02 & â??04 PV. What an educational experience for the PAL.
I will check again with our local wine shops to see if they have any Loire Valley reds, otherwise I wonâ??t be able to have one until after I order one.

hmm. perhaps. watching this show has given me a MASSIVELY long list of wines/regions to try…and in order to function, i kinda need to spread them out a bit!