When tasting red wines in Ontario, I often spit more than I swallow. This is because local wineries habitually grow grapes ill-suited to the cool climate of the Niagara region. Red grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are popular everywhere, but they require a long, warm growing season to ripen properly and this is iffy in Niagara. Unripe fruit whelps a wine that is nasty, brutish and short – something you find throughout the tasting rooms of Ontario wineries.
This climate leads many winemakers to plant Cabernet Franc, another of the “noble” red grape varieties of Bordeaux. Cabernet Franc ripens quickly, survives winter well and provides a generous crop. The problem is that Cabernet Franc doesn’t really have the chops to stand alone. In France, it is blended with other grapes to add fragrance and a touch of spice. But a bottle of 100 percent Cab Franc can be weak and tastes like green pepper. Blech.
A good example of this is Sandbanks Estate Winery 2007 Cabernet Franc ($19.95 from winery). It tasted diluted and flat, and had a noticeable streak of pine. But to be fair, some wineries are able to pull off this grape. Fielding Estate’s 2005 vintage ($18.00 from the winery) is aging beautifully. Although it’s wispy light, it’s got plenty of juice enhanced by notes of cinnamon, baked berries and brick. This wine is exceptional in every sense of the word.
I used to think over-reliance on Cabernet Franc was unique to Ontario, bred by the inexperience of our wine industry. I was disabused of this recently when I went to a tasting of wines from the northern Italian region of Friuli Grave. This is also a cool climate region, and like Ontario they depend heavily on Cab Franc.
The Cabernet Franc of Friuli Grave is cheap but manic. Although it lacks Ontario’s characteristic vegetal note, it makes up for it with disjointed flavours and grating acidity. A good case in point is the Furlan-Castelcosa 2005 Cabernet Franc (€ 3.95). It has meager fruitiness, little body and a sour citrus tang. There’s lots of complexity (tobacco leaf, tomato, leather, herbs) but these notes aren’t integrated or, in the final analysis, pleasant.
Friuli Grave does, however, produce many crisp and tasty white wines, especially Pinot Grigio and a local grape called Tocai Friulano. Furlan-Castelcosa’s 2007 Pinot Grigio (€ 3.75) is a classic example. Unlike some Pinot Grigios which can be fat and cloying, this is a lithe and charming wine. It has a refreshing, straightforward character with just a hint of grassiness. It’s a wonder what you can achieve when you stick to what you’re good at.
Matthew Sullivan is a civil litigator in Toronto. He writes a weekly blog entry here on lawandstyle.ca. The Short Cellar column appears in the print edition of Precedent. Matthew can be reached at matthew@lawandstyle.beta-site.ca