Dark in color with a nice smooth varietal cab franc nose of dark berries. On the mid palate the wine displays lovely cab franc dark berries to match the nose. On the medium length finish the wine displays some nice smooth tannins and dryness along with a hint of mint. This is a smooth, well made, easily approachable cab franc even now. I would give it an 88+. Sadly not in the LCBO so you will have to take a trip out to the winery (and make an appointment) where it is $38 a bottle or from 3050 Imports. I had not had a wine from these guys before so I was happy to hear their story. They are in Jordan and run a small winery open for tours by appointment. There apparently isn’t even a sign which would explain why I hadn’t noticed them before.
From the winery’s web site:
In vinification, we guide our carefully hand sorted grapes through the sole use of indigenous yeasts with no added sugars, tannins or acids. Minute sulphur additions, if any, are added before bottling without fining or filtration.
Date of harvest: October 29th, 31 November 2nd, 2011 Average° Brix at harvest: 21.7°
Vinification:
The fruit for the 2011 Cabernet Franc Cuvée Persephone was harvested by hand on three separate selective picking dates based on skin maturity. The first two pickings were sorted prior to destemming, followed by final selection of individual berries into 1-ton bins. The final harvest was sorted and transferred into oak fermentation vats as 100% whole cluster. The fruit was warmed to 20°C, at which point, indigenous yeast began fermentation.Gentle punch downs and pump-overs allowed for phenolic extraction from grape skins.
Fermentation temperature reached a maximum of 33°C, taking 22 days to complete sugar consumption. Post fermentation maceration lasted only three additional days due to issues with Brettanomyces on the rachis of the fruit. The wine was pressed early to stainless steel tank for stabilization before transfer to barrel.
Élevage:
The wine was left to sediment at 5°C over the winter. It was suggested by one of the leading oenology labs that cold temperature would effectively halt the progression of Brettanomyces yeast, and the cells would sediment out in the lees. After 5 months of sedimentation, the wine was racked off the faulty lees and transferred to neural French oak barrels. The wine was then treated with the clean lees of the 2010 Cabernet Franc and left to age and evolve in barrels for 8 months. The wine was racked to stainless steel tanks on January 23, 2013 to allow for settling before bottling. An extended clarification period eliminated the need for the addition of fining agents. The Pearl Morissette 2011 Cabernet Franc Cuvée Persephone was bottled unfiltered on April 18th, 2013.
Specifications at Bottling:
pH: 3.63
Total Acidity: 5.62 g tartaric acid/L
FSO2: 10 mg/L at bottling
TSO2: 44mg/L
Alcohol: 13.0%/vol
Residual Sugar: 0.31 g/L
Total Production: 598 cases of 12
