Clandestine Vineyards #3 Cabernet Franc (6-pack) 2017 x6

Wine Region

MARGARET RIVER

Drink Until

2025

Varieties

Grenache

Alcohol

14.5%

Foods

Beef, everyway you can cook it. All barbequed meats - and veg for that matter, hard cheeses.

Oak

Colour

Dark purple colour

Nose

hints of cedar and cigar on the intense black and purple fruit.

Palate

Tannins a gloss on the French more than within it. Striking wine.

Background

Sourced from a single vineyard planted in 1982, this third and final wine under the Clandestine label is a homage to the wine style of the historic Loire Valley town of Chinon. The vineyard; now some 36 years old, is quite unique and eccentric, according to Mike Kerrigan. It's north-facing slope located in the southern sub-region of Wallcliffe is considered more than rare; the cooler micro-climate combined with the northern perspective means the best of two worlds for this site; an extended ripening period allows for fleshy, juicer and more importantly, varietal fruit. Hand-picked, open-fermented, hand plunged and matured in older neutral French oak barriques for eleven months, this first release has intense dark purple colour and sweet, supple fruit and is a rarely produced Bordeaux varietal in Australia. The vines were handpicked & gently basked pressed. The juice was then added back to first pressings, open fermented and finally aged in old French oak hogsheads to calm and round out the vintage after all that activity. It's a gentle approach with big results.