#larkmead

[selfiesandwinepics]

Mon dieu!!

[selfiesandwinepics]

“...How was the Larkmead?”

On chicken parm night I chose to serve the 2009 Larkmead Cabernet Franc and my short simple review is this: what an elegant, delicious, and easy drinking wine. But the longer answer is more complex.

Cabernet Franc is an interesting grape to serve as a varietal wine because it borders on being considered a “blend grape” most places where it’s used. In Bordeaux, Cab franc typically serves as the second or third component of the blend on either bank of the Gironde but is almost never a principal grape in old world wines (to my albeit limited knowledge).

California is crazy, man, and in the Winesplosion of the 90’s/2000’s when everyone else in the world became wine drinkers, California winemakers decided to see if they could make varietal bottlings out of blend grapes. If you go on a wine tasting at Cakebread Cellars, for instance, you’ll definitely get a sip of the wines they’re known for (Chardonnay, Merlot for example) but they’ll also (or at some point in the recent past—been there, done that) try to convince you that Petit Verdot holds its own as a varietal wine. They’ll explain California’s unique and wonderful growing climate and blah blah blah it’s just not that good, man. I’m sorry.

I don’t reject blend grapes as varietal wines on purist reasoning or anything, I reject them after tasting too many of them. And I love wine. I love unique twists on wine but you know, your tongue has its limits and if it’s not good, it’s not good. Just because you grew too much Petite Syrah to blend that year doesn’t mean I need a full bottle of the stuff, much less a case of it. They send that crap out in their wine clubs too, if you let them. Be demanding in your wine clubs. Tell them you don’t want Zynfandel if you don’t like that, and to sub it for merlot at the appropriate charge if that’s your thing.

Anyway, this post has gone all over the map but let’s get to the final point here: California can make Cab Franc as a principal grape (by law 75% or greater to label a wine as that grape name) and can make it where you’d actually want to drink it.

I’ve had several cab franc varietals from California winemakers I’ve enjoyed, but the best expression of it, to me, is from Larkmead. I think because they grow so much merlot... many of their vineyards border the famed Three Palms vineyard that Sterling (formerly) and Duckhorn (presently) make their best merlots from. But the styling is very much like the round, full bodied right bank style wines from Pomerol.

The 2009 vintage was an epic growing year in Napa... everyone made good wine that year and if there’s a knock on the vintage it’s that conditions were so perfect that some wines got a bit of overripened fruit—which the average American drinker enjoys but that many wine purists think is wrong. They don’t like wines too ripe or too easy drinking. Whatever man—I will say this wine has a touch of that. After 11 years in the bottle, the tannins were still present and provided plenty of structure, but for sure there was a roundness and smoothness in mouthfeel and finish that you know... were on the “just too round” for a person who claims to only love brutish Cabernet Sauvignon dominant wines of Pauillac.

Short answer reiterated: it was absolutely delicious and its one flaw if it had one was the fact that they clearly used ripe fruit. Like imagine missing the harvest by a single day—you’ll know it if you really know red wine.

[haybug1]

Wine of the Day: Larkmead “Dr. Olmo” Cabernet Sauvignon From old vines planted in gravel-filled soils by one of Napa Valley's oldest wineries, Larkmead "

[amateurziarko]

Visit to Larkmead in Calistoga. Some of the best Cabernet Sauvignon in the Napa Valley, and a truly beautiful setting. #larkmead #napavalley

[shawn-c-paul]

When you need some history with your wine. #californiacabernet #cltwine #cltfoodie #mayacamas #larkmead #foxcroftwine (at Foxcroft Wine Co.)

[travellikedani-blog]

I've been a good girl for 5 years! I finally got to open you. It was totally worth the wait! Merry Christmas 🎄❤️#larkmead #californiawines #spoiled #lovewine (at Duggan Home)