Francly Cab

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

“I couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about and why people said Cabernet Franc was so difficult…” Ridgeback winemaker Toit Wessels admitted. “It was only a year later that I realised my first harvest was just freakishly good – and the second was a nightmare!”

His honest admission came during a visit to the Agter-Paarl wine farm this week. “We just hit it lucky with the 2007. Everything went right and fell into place.” So much so that the wine was rewarded with a 4 Star rating in the annual Platter Guide straight off the bat. The following vintage caused Wessels more than a few sleepless nights. “It was lean, green and mean – a monster! There’s no way we could use it on its own. It’ll be blended for sure.”

Attention to detail is Wessels’ mantra and after walking through the vines on a blisteringly hot 30-degree plus day it’s easy to see why Ridgeback is a triple winner of the Vinpro vineyard block competition – 2003, 2008 and 2010. And one of the manicured blocks is the Cabernet Franc vineyard!

Cabernet Franc has been front of mind for a week or two since historic winery Alto launched their ultra-premium offering in mid-October – the weirdly named 2007 MPHS red blend. The wine pays tribute to the four winemakers who have plied their trade at the Helderberg property over the past 60 years – Manie Malan, Piet du Toit, his Springbok rugby playing son Hempies and finally Schalk van der Westhuizen who celebrates a decade at Alto this year.

The ambitiously priced wine (R700 a bottle – but then there were only six barrels blended) is roughly two-thirds Cab Franc and a third Cabernet Sauvignon. Van der Westhuizen said the two elements of the blend were the “best of the best”: from the two best vineyard blocks and the best barrels of the resultant wines. And he had to compete with the baboons when it came to harvest… he claims they have an unerring instinct for the best berries in the highest-lying vineyards on the farm.

Like the men who farmed the land, the wine is big and powerful – so powerful that in needed 24 months in new oak to round off the edges. The MPHS will only be produced in exceptional years and the blend will vary, depending on how the fruit shows in any given vintage.

Cab Franc crusader Bruwer Raats of Raats Family Wines is no doubt delighted at not being one of the only voices championing the merits of this overlooked grape any more…