Saturday Night – I got VQA’d and I liked it – Part 3

The 2009 Chateau de Charmes Cabernet Franc was the other Cabernet Franc we had with the sliders.

The nose on the Chateau de Charmes was very hard to detect, you really needed to swirl the glass just to pick up a hint of almond/marzipan and cherry.  Tasting the wine it started sour cherry and finished with a soapy/Thrills gum flavour to it.  Structure-wise, the flavour barely managed to cover the heat of the alcohol and it too was more acidic than tannic.  This wine was not very nice and didn’t work on its own and didn’t improve that much with the food.  I’m not sure if it was simply not very good or it was OK but against how good the Tawse Cabernet Franc was made this wine seem worse than it really was.

Here is the group rating for the wine –Mick – 78, Mark – 79, Kathy – 79, Amy – 78, Overall – 78.5.

Here is the LCBO listing on the wine –

CHATEAU DES CHARMES CAB FRANC EST BOTTLED VQA

LCBO 162602
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 13.95
This is a VQA wine
Made in: Ontario, Canada
By: Chateau Des Charmes
Style: Medium-bodied & Fruity
Wine, Red Wine
13.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Varietal: Cabernet Franc
Sugar Content: 3 g/L
Sweetness Descriptor: XD - Extra Dry

Tasting Note - clear deep ruby with a hint of youthful violet at rim; forward ripe spicy blackberry fruit with a hint of earth; dry with medium body and fine grippy tannins; juicy plum and berry flavours on a lengthy finish .

* Note – I’m not sure if the wine listed above is the exact wine we had or not and I didn’t ask Jan the price on this wine.

I find it strangely reassuring that I can give the wine a low rating as I know Chris and Jan won’t take it personally.  I like the fact that we have become so comfortable with the both of them that we can be so honest in the reviews.  Normally if I wasn’t a big fan of a wine with someone other than Mick and Amy providing the wine, I wouldn’t bother reviewing it.

Click here for Part 4