Cabernet Franc
Overview
Cabernet Franc is the red workhorse of the Loire Valley’s Anjou-Touraine heartland, producing wines of great complexity and aging potential in the appellations of Chinon, Saumur-Champigny, and Bourgueil. It is also a blending grape in Bordeaux (Saint-Émilion, Pomerol). In the Loire, it finds its purest expression on tuffeau limestone and gravelly alluvial soils along the Vienne and Loire Rivers — producing wines with cassis, dark berries, cigar wrapper, tree bark, juniper berry, and espresso character over mineral soil signatures, capable of 20–50+ years of aging.
Key Regions
- Chinon — arguably the finest Loire expression; Domaine Bernard Baudry, Domaine Olga Raffault, Château de la Bonnelière, Domaine de Pallus
- Saumur-Champigny — tuffeau limestone soils; Clos Rougeard pinnacle; Domaine des Closiers, Domaine Filliatreau
- Bourgueil — Domaine Pierre Breton; can show more pyrazine (herbal) character
Style Notes
The Loire Cabernet Franc style is defined by restraint in alcohol (12–13.5%), high natural acidity, and a very specific soil inflection from the subsoils (tuffeau limestone, grey tuffeau, sandy gravel). Unlike Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, Loire Cab Franc rarely exceeds 13.5% in good vintages. The greatest wines (Baudry les Grézeaux, Plouzeau Vindoux l’Intégrale, Raffault les Picasses, Closiers Trezellières) achieve the structural complexity of fine Burgundy with longer aging curves.
2022 vintage is described by Gilman as “potentially historic” for Loire Cab Franc: large crop, warm summer with cool evenings, ideal September — sappy, ripe, well-structured; best buying opportunity in a generation.
Synonyms
- Breton (used in Bourgueil/Chinon)
- Bouchet (used in Pomerol and Saint-Émilion)
My Tastings
(none yet — Baudry and Clos Rougeard bottles in cellar)
Sources
sources/articles/VFTC/VFTC May-June 2024 #111.txt— Annual Loire Report, Chinon/Saumur-Champigny/Bourgueil sections (pages 103–114)