Monday, December 6, 2010

Michel-Schlumberger Cabernet Franc


Friday night we took the show on the road so to speak. Several of us got together for a dinner at a 90 year old relative's home. Wanting something simple we modified the pan seared and oven roasted chicken breast recipe from several posts ago. In this case we knew we wanted to drink a red wine so we put a glaze of reduced balsamic vinegar, honey and pan juices over the top of the breasts for the last five minutes of roasting and then drizzled some more of the mixture over the potatoes and carrots when the entire one skillet meal came out of the oven.

The wine was the 2008 version of Michel-Schlumberger's Cabernet Franc which arrived via their wine club. We pulled the cork and poured a couple of glasses just prior to the chicken being done. This wine had a bright, happy nose of cherries and spice. Some wines have a brooding aroma, some are serious, some are lean and austere, but this one just smelled happy. The medium bodied wine was full of the flavor of those cherries and they were just as happy in my mouth as they were in my nose. The hint of spice was here as well, a touch of vanilla, a bit of cinnamon and just a suggestion of cloves. The acid was great and the length of finish and the flavor in the finish were wonderful.  Nice interplay of flavors between the wine and some rosemary in the vegetables and a definite affinity between the wine and the balsamic glaze. Good meal and a very good wine.

$40 and 14.6% alcohol

1 comment:

Jim Morris said...

Thank you for that nice review of our Cab Franc. It is a varietal we take great pride in and it sells out quickly each year.