Vine2Wine – Great day, great team, great Cabernet Franc

What an amazing day, what a wonderful team and hopefully another great Bordeaux varietal Cabernet Franc! Vintage 2014!

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Panorama view across Hourcat Sud - the home of our beautiful Paradise Rescued Cabernet Franc

                                           Panorama view across Hourcat Sud – the home of beautiful Paradise Rescued Cabernet Franc

Readers of this blog will be up to speed with the “interesting” weather and massive climate swings in the Bordeaux wine region this year. After the early spring, summer was a complete mess oscillating rapidly between monsoonal rain and mini heat waves interspersed with periods of cold cloudy weather. Just when it looked like everything might be lost, September delivered a near perfect Indian summer and the vines and fruit recovered accordingly. It was not ideal. Once again, it has been a year that has required a lot of attention in the vineyard to guide it through to the end.

The pressure of the vintage was evident and starting to show on the face of Pascale, our vigneronne, expressing her now legendary passion and commitment to her vineyard and wine. She need not have worried – a great team was at hand to bring in the harvest and confirm the skill of her work.

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The perfect Autumn rural scene - a dedicated community team harvesting

                                           The perfect Autumn rural scene – a dedicated community team brings in the Cabernet Franc harvest

Paradise Rescued has always been lucky to find and work with some wonderful people whose own personal passion and values mirror our own commitment. In the vineyard every bunch was hand cut, then checked for sub standard or rotten berries. The same process was duplicated at the winery with final checks for hidden green berries, small green stalks and general rubbish. Every “cagette” (grape basket) full of de-stemmed and crushed grapes was checked again before going into the vat. The diligence and attention was voluntary and focussed. What a team, what a community we have around us in our beautiful village of Cardan.

In summary, the Cabernet Franc fruit was clean and healthy. Many of the berries I tested have a fineness of taste that I have never previously experienced from the Hourcat Sud block. After 5 seasons of working organically and progressive micro improvement to the soil and vines, little by little our Cabernet Franc vines are expressing themselves a bit more.

Now all we need is a great wine to reward out team for their hard work over the challenging previous months. Thank you Team Paradise Rescued for an amazing day. Go #CabFranc – our beautiful princess![/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]