PURE CAB FRANC FROM BORDEAUX

BORDEAUX is legendary for its blends, but one winemaker is seeking to create a name with single varietal offerings. Château Civrac in the Côtes de Bourg is to produce Bordeaux’s first pure Cabernet Franc from the 2O14 harvest, having made the region’s inaugural varietal Malbec from the 2O1O vintage. Mark Hellyar, owner of the property, said that he hadn’t realized there was either Malbec or Cabernet Franc there when he bought the estate in 2OO6, but having discovered the grapes in subsequent years he decided to make varietal wines to prove that Bordeaux is innovative. “Around 35% of our 1O-hectare vineyard is Malbec, but we didn’t know that when we bought the estate, and then last year we found six rows of Cabernet Franc,” he recalled. Hellyar made a 1OO% Malbec in 2O1O and 2O12, as well as from last year’s vintage, producing just 3OO bottles for “private clients”, while he said that the 2O14 harvest would yield his, and Bordeaux’s, first varietal Cabernet Franc. Explaining the motivation to produce these wines, he said that it was an attempt to alter Bordeaux’s image. “There is so much negativity now around Bordeaux, and by making 1OO% Malbec I’m trying to sell a message that Bordeaux is contemporary and for a younger audience,” he said.

Acknowledging that there is in fact “a lot of experimentalism in Bordeaux,” he noted that “being innovative within the appellation system is not easy,” adding that his 2O12 varietal Malbec will probably have to be bottled without any mention of the AOP Côtes de Bourg on the label. “There is no scope for 1OO% Malbec in Bordeaux.” This is despite the fact that there is more Malbec in the Côtes de Bourg than any other Bordeaux appellation, according to Hellyar, and that the sub-region has decided to highlight this with a new marketing campaign. Using the slogan “the spicy side of Bordeaux”, the Côtes de Bourg is now drawing attention to the positive influence of Malbec in the blend – a grape renowned for its flavors of black pepper and spice. Hellyar described his Malbec as a “fruity wine with lots of alcohol, blueberries, tobacco, and spice”. He noted that it is “very different to Argentine Malbec; mine is more savory, more Bordelaise, more subtle – although it still packs a punch.” As for the Cabernet Franc from 2O14, he said he had 3OO liters of the wine, and described it as “more floral and less tannic than the Cabernet Sauvignon, but with more structure than Merlot.” Hellyar added that his varietal wines were “fun” and “a way of showing what we are capable of producing”, although admitted that the grapes may be better suited to blending. “Maybe we have got it wrong as the varieties were planted to be blended and overcome difficult vintages, but in reverse-engineering them it is helping me understand each grape variety and that will help me put them together again,” he said. But for now he said the approach was an important point of difference for Civrac and the region. “I can say this is 1OO% Cabernet Franc from Bordeaux, try it, you won’t have ever tasted it before, and it’s the same with the Malbec.”