CAB FRANC!                                               Saturday Feb. 23rd, 2019


Yes, we love Cab Franc, the kind that generally comes in a Burgundy shaped bottle. But, it's really fun to sit down at a table with 6 Cab Franc's from all over the world and taste them blind and then introduce great food to pair! So that's what we did on this rainy Saturday night in February.


                                     

Here are the six wines

1) A– 2017 Bernard Baudry “Les Granges” Chinon  $20

2) B-  2016 Paul Mathew, Alegria Vineyard   $29

3) C– 2016 Lieu Dit “ Sans Soufre” Santa Maria Valley  $30

4) D– 2013 Pearmund ‘reserve’ Virginia   $42

5) E– 2016 Catena Appelation, San Carlos, Argentina $20

6) F- 2016 Ravines Wine Cellar, Finger Lakes   $20



After everyone took their time to taste, take notes and summarize, we released the info of what wines were tasted. The Chinon unfortunately had so much Brett ( Brettanomyces is a non-spore forming genus of yeast in the family Saccharomycetaceae, and is often colloquially referred to as "Brett". The genus name Dekkera is used interchangeably with Brettanomyces, as it describes the teleomorph or spore forming form of the yeast. )
Anyway, everyone got over the brett. Unfortunately it affected our wine that was 2nd.

I usually label wines 1 thru 6, we used the USDavis scoring template A thru F which was a little challenging when it came to favorites. But you can see E and F won, clearly.

                                                 
What was cool is how many people were dumb founded by the Virginia and Finger Lakes wines. These regions are not well known for much other than this grape and some aromatic whites. Our wine did not show as well beside the line up but with the food pairings, well that's a different story!

Now for Food pairings and adding in Pinot Noir.

1st course - Eggplant parmesan was a HUGE hit! I really love eggplant and had never had this preparation. We did our trial, loved it, perfected it and served it. Tomato sauce is generally a very tough ingredient for some red wines especially Pinot but with Cab Franc, yowza!

                
Course #2
El Molino Central on Hwy 12 in Sonoma is very popular! When we stopped by for a quick lunch, I eyed 'to go' Tamales. Guessing that they would pair well, we took Chicken Mole Tomales home for a trial pairing. OMG, I was in food heaven and thought that the pairing was so outstanding. I made the trek back over to Sonoma Valley to pick them up a week later for our event.

I really thought this would wine best pairing although the group was not willing to let there be one clear winning food pairing. Okay then, but I challenge all of you to try this pairing at home, it's really amazing!

Too many glasses, Thanks to our neighbors @ Dutton Goldfield for the lenders. A total of 96 glasses on the tables and my 6 at the bar.

 

Happy tasters, we were completely sold out with a wait list. Who knew soooo many people love Cab Franc.

Main course, BBQ pork.

Last course, Manchego cheese with homemade crackers with local wild fennel.

 

So the results for the wine was a surprise but the food pairings weren't. The moral of this Foodie night is that great Food and Wine make for happy customers!

Thank you all for playing again.