2021 The Nest Cabernet Franc *

Chris Carpenter and Pete Fraser; the Burt Bacharach and Hal David of wine. Chris does the Bordeaux varieties, and Pete the Rhone. I say a little prayer for both of them. Anyway, what the world needs now, is more excellent Cabernet Franc. Blackcurrant, dark raspberry, a little dried flower and herb perfume, mint, iodine, creamy chocolate and spiced cedar oak, also a dash of paprika. It’s dense and packed with graphite tannin, a lovely ferrous edge to it, tobacco, red and black fruit, deep and rich, but also fragrant to close with chocolate and pencilly tannin. Serious wine here, the highlight being the integration of (plentiful) oak and fruit, and a superb muscular tannin profile. Touch and go for 96 points really.

Deep, dark colour with a vanilla and pencil-shavings aroma, the wine is full-bodied, dense and powerful with loads of firm tannins and a long carry. A solid cabernet franc in which the tannin really rules. It demands time and patience. An impressive cabernet franc with massive structure. Hearty protein needed if served young.

Cabernet Franc has the capacity to delight, enchant, and bewitch, however it so often is overlooked as a blending grape or it sits quietly in the shadow of its better known relations. The Nest ticks all of the above boxes, and it is a joy to find such a well-cared for iteration of the variety, placing Cab Franc front and centre instead of as an afterthought. This is a fuller bodied Cabernet Franc, dark and brooding. A woodland fairy-tale of a nose with briar rose, black rounded fruits, a summery floral prettiness, with an undercurrent of autumnal decay. A wine of contradictions. Succulence and youth framed with gnarly earthy notes that speak of age. A hint of fresh growth and the malleability of youthful growth, paired with the slight decay of bushland underbrush. Resin, dark chocolate and spice, oak has stamped it’s signet ring on the wine. Freshness and complexity. Tannins are well-defined, the structure is firm and provides an age worthy frame on which the fruit hangs. A slight bitter radicchio note on the finish.