Blind Tasting - 2006 Les Chartrains Chinon: Holy Crap THAT is French Cab Franc

So we tasted this one double blind, no vintage, no country, no grape hints.  The wine turned out to be Donatien Bahuaud Les Chartrains Chinon (100% Cabernet Franc).

This wine threw us for a loop immediately.  It was sooo floral and perfumed we were nowhere near Cab Franc let alone France as we tasted.  What a crazy nose this wine has.  Notes of ripe fruit for sure and the mahogany rim around the edge let us know if had a bit of age on it (2006).  But, it wasn't until the wine had been decanted and opened for a good hour that we even remotely started to get the herbaceous or vegetal sensations that we would expect from Cab Franc.  Even then those parts of the wine were ever so subtle.  This guessing game was over before it started.

After all that, we can say this wine is delicious once it has been open a while.  We had it opened for about 30 minutes and that floral sensation was way too high on the nose and the palate.  Once that dissipated and softened the wine was very elegant with a tannic finish that was nice if not a bit expected for the body of the wine.  At $19 locally a very nice wine but not what we were expecting at all.

So once again this proves that for us in a double blind tasting, there will be no money involved in the guessing.  We blew this one big time.  The only saving grace was that we call it older than 2007 because of the colour in the glass.  That said, it was never so much fun to be wrong...

	Tasting Notes:	Score:
Sight (0-5)	Medium dark wine with brown edges noting a wine with some aging.	4.5
Smell (0-5)	Very floral and perfumed until the wine had been opened at least 60 minutes, after that softer and more notes of ripe fruit and leather.	4.0
Taste (0-10)	A very nice elegant wine with a long finish and soft tannins.	8.0
	Total:	16.5 / 20  (82.5)

We will keep trying to get our hands on Cab Franc and this one keeps things interesting to say the least.

Keep on drinking!

Chris & Shannon