{"product_id":"cepage-cabernet-franc","title":"Cépage Cabernet Franc","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"float: left; font-family: 'Apple Chancery','Lucida Handwriting','Segoe Script',cursive; ; font-size: 2.8em; line-height: 1; padding-right: 8px;\"\u003eA\u003c\/span\u003enyone who pushes open the door of a wine cellar in \u003cstrong\u003eChinon\u003c\/strong\u003e or \u003cstrong\u003eBourgueil\u003c\/strong\u003e will, sooner or later, be told the same story: in 1631, \u003cstrong\u003eCardinal Richelieu\u003c\/strong\u003e, having just established his lands as a duchy-peerage, had several thousand vine cuttings of the region's most renowned grape variety sent from Bordeaux to his steward, \u003cstrong\u003eAbbé Breton\u003c\/strong\u003e, who was in charge of the Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil abbey. The latter planted them around Chinon and Bourgueil; the resulting wine was so good that even today, the grape variety is still nicknamed \"\u003cstrong\u003ele breton\u003c\/strong\u003e\" in both Touraine and Anjou.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eA lovely story—except that it is probably false, or at the very least incomplete. For as early as the 16th century, Rabelais was already referring to a \"good Breton wine\" regarding the wines from the region of Vernon, nearly a century before the Richelieu episode. Cabernet Franc was therefore already present and appreciated in the Loire long before the Cardinal got involved. As for its true origins, they reportedly date back to the Basque Country, before a slow migration toward the Bordeaux region and then the Loire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eIts scientific consecration came much later: in 1997, a team of geneticists from the University of California, Davis, demonstrated that Cabernet Franc is one of the two parents of \u003cstrong\u003eCabernet Sauvignon\u003c\/strong\u003e, the other being \u003cstrong\u003eSauvignon Blanc\u003c\/strong\u003e; a delightful turnaround for this grape variety, which was long considered a mere supporting actor to its Bordeaux offspring.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eIn the Loire, Cabernet Franc has actually achieved what Bordeaux never allowed it to do: become a star variety in its own right, rather than just a blending component. In both Chinon and Bourgueil, its expression varies radically depending on whether it grows on the \u003cstrong\u003esands and gravels of the banks of the Loire and Vienne rivers,\u003c\/strong\u003e producing supple, fruity wines to be drunk young, or on the \u003cstrong\u003etuffeau limestone and clay hillsides,\u003c\/strong\u003e where it gains structure, tannins, and aging potential, sometimes for several decades. In \u003cstrong\u003eSaumur-Champigny\u003c\/strong\u003e, still on that same tuffeau limestone characteristic of the Saumur region, it delivers a third version, somewhere between crunchy fruit and minerality.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"float: left; font-family: 'Apple Chancery','Lucida Handwriting','Segoe Script',cursive; ; font-size: 2.8em; line-height: 1; padding-right: 8px;\"\u003eA\u003c\/span\u003e grape variety from elsewhere, burdened with a name that lies about its origins, but which has, over the centuries, become the most faithful red signature of the Loire Valley, as evidenced by this case:\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Pépites de Loire","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52637588422997,"sku":null,"price":69.7,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/pepitesdeloire.com\/en\/products\/cepage-cabernet-franc","provider":"Pépites de Loire","version":"1.0","type":"link"}