Cabernet Franc Reserve 2008 |
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This vineyard’s renown for Cabernet Franc rests on the most consistent critical acclaim for any varietal red wine produced in the Eastern United States, but to be fair, this distinction comes from the ground. We grow the most diversified array of Cabernet Franc clones in the region - 4 from Bordeaux, 1 from the Loire - offering a wine-making palette of matchless permutation and subtlety. At the same time, the vineyard has so well established our Merlot, Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Sauvignon, that the Cabernet Franc Reserve is never less than the most elegant exemplar of the varietal in any vintage. The House red wine at The Inn at Little Washington, it responds to a knowing demand for a characterful, intriguing, and refreshingly well-bred wine for dining, and indeed for conversation with friends who delight in fine wine for its own sake. |
Vintage Factors:
An highly approachable, complex and well-rounded vintage of Cabernet Franc, following 2007's highest rating by Beverage Testing Institute among all red wines of the region. As in all our vintages of this wine since the mid-90s, the 2008 Reserve is destined for long shelf life and dramatic evolution in bottle. |
Vinification:
Traditional fermentation on the skins, and maceration of up to 21 days in stainless steel tank. Aged up to 14 months in new and used barriques of superior French oak, air-dried at least 3 years before coopering. |
Analysis:
13.2% Alcohol
0.0% Residual Sugar
0.54% Total Acidity |
Tasting Notes:
Dark garnet core, brilliant clarity in the glass. Intense, effusively luscious flavors of ripe red berries with caramelised notes of fig, cherry, and plum, elegantly woven together in barrel. Long-finishing and tannically vivid, yet with a remarkably soft palate. |
Optimum Drinking:
Readily enjoyable at this time, the wine will reveal itself importantly more by mid-2008, and then enter into an annually enriched term continuing into 2012, and will sustain that plateau 3 to 6 years. |
Food Pairings:
Braised veal roast served with baby vegetables
Tagliolini with breast of duck ragù
Roasted lamb with rosemary and garlic over soft polenta |
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