Wine Talk by Robert Whitley

We've had this discussion before about Cabernet Franc. I'm in the camp that holds Franc as untapped potential to produce seriously good wine from the Napa Valley. I would even go so far as to predict it could be the next big thing from Napa.

So far there is precious little evidence that I am right. Yet I was encouraged recently after an encounter with Aaron Pott, the erudite winemaker for a number of Napa brands, including the wines of Blackbird Vineyards.

Blackbird is a significant player in this story because the wines are inspired by the Right Bank Bordeaux districts of Pomerol and Saint-Emilion, where the predominant grape varieties are Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Cabernet Sauvignon is little used or not at all because the cool clay soils of the region foil just about all attempts to properly ripen the grape.

Pott has intimate knowledge of Cab Franc and Merlot from the Right Bank, where he once made wines for Saint-Emilion grand cru producers Troplong Mondot and La Tour Figeac. At Chateau La Tour Figeac, he also doubled as the general manager.

He is no less experienced in the grapes of the Napa Valley, having logged stints at Newton, St. Clement and Quintessa in addition to a number of consulting gigs. At Blackbird, where Pott has taken the reins from star winemaker and good friend Sarah Gott, he inherits the 10-acre Blackbird Vineyard, certainly among the top five Merlot vineyards in the valley.

The Blackbird vineyard Merlot is the base grape for Blackbird's flagship wine, the $90 Illustration. Once 100 percent Merlot, the most recent release, 2007, finds 20 percent Cab Franc in the blend. Other Blackbird wines lean more heavily upon Cab Franc: 2007 Contrarian ($90) is 46 percent Cab Franc compared to 34 percent Merlot and only 20 percent Cabernet Sauvignon; 2007 Paramour is 50 percent Cab Franc, 45 percent Merlot and 5 percent Cabernet Sauvignon.

Pott, as any good Right Bank winemaker would, believes the Cabernet Franc adds structural elegance and longevity. Yet stylistic benefits aside, Pott offers a more practical argument for utilizing more Cabernet Franc and Merlot in Napa Valley red wines.

"We are finding out that these cool-climate Bordeaux grapes do better in areas like Carneros and the southern end of the Napa Valley than Pinot Noir," said Pott. "Carneros simply isn't cool enough for really, really good Pinot."

Whether he's right or wrong, there is little doubt that the Pinots of the much cooler Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast — each with a more profound Pacific Ocean influence — have overshadowed the Pinots of Carneros.

The Blackbird vineyard is right at the northern border of the cool zone, located in the Oak Knoll District near the city of Napa. Most of the Cabernet Franc is purchased from growers in southern Napa Valley and Carneros.

There's also a fair bit of clay in the soils at the southern end of the valley, which when combined with the cooler days and still cooler evenings leads to wines with fresher acidity and firmer, more prickly tannins and little or none of the jammy characteristics found in Napa reds north of the Oak Knoll District.

Pott's rhetoric is matched by bold action. Consider the Blackbird lot that was auctioned recently at Premiere Napa Valley; it was 45 percent Cab Franc, 45 percent Merlot and only 10 percent Cabernet Sauvignon.

If Pott and Blackbird were the only true believers in the Right Bank model for the Napa Valley, I would be out on a shaky limb.

That's hardly the case.

One of the finest Napa Valley reds I've tasted in the past year is the Devil's Peak ($60) from Terlato. Devil's Peak is a remarkable mirror image of the famed Cheval Blanc of Saint-Emilion, with better than 60 percent Cabernet Franc. Angel's Peak, a sister blend, follows the Pomerol model at 95 percent Merlot and 5 percent Cab Franc, and it retails for $50.

Both wines exhibit the structure and elegance of Right Bank Bordeaux, and thus stand stylistically apart from the Napa Valley norm for a grand cru caliber red wine.

Jarvis, long a champion of the Cabernet Franc grape, produces perhaps the finest stand-alone Cab Franc in America. And yes, at 90 percent Cab Franc and 10 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, it is stylistically about as far from a typical Napa Valley grand cru red as any $65 Napa Valley wine gets.

Another Jarvis wine, the $105 Will Jarvis' Science Project, is even more extreme and decidedly Right Bank at 95 percent Cab Franc and 5 percent Merlot. That wine scored an impressive Platinum award at the Winemaker Challenge International Wine Competition in January.

Then there is the Pomerol inspired Twomey, where winemaker Daniel Baron (also of Silver Oak) brings his own Bordeaux experiences (making wine in Pomerol and Saint-Emilion) to bear with a world class Merlot, one of the Napa Valley's top five, that checks in at a very Right Bank 96 percent Merlot and 4 percent Cab Franc.

This powerful yet restrained Merlot is sourced from a single vineyard in the southern Napa Valley.

To my way of thinking, it is very telling that even a handful of high-end luxury Napa Valley wineries are playing around with the Right Bank model. It goes against the conventional wisdom that the valley's highest and best vineyard use is Cabernet Sauvignon.

And that speaks to the wisdom of a few men with vision and courage to step outside the Napa Valley's safe zone and plant the grapes that actually work in their vineyards.

Call me crazy, but I detect a trend. Will others follow suit and do the Right thing? I say you can bank on that.

BEST BUY

Wines are rated on a 100-point scale. Wines are chosen for review because they represent outstanding quality or value.

Quattro Leoni 2007 'Vino Rosso' Barbera d'Asti, Italy ($17) — For far too long, the benchmark wines of northern Italy's Piedmont region have scared away potential customers due to price. While not daunting to collectors and well-heeled aficionados, Barolo and Barbaresco are certainly priced far beyond the "everyday" classification. Yet there is another fabulous red wine from the region that is now getting notice and carving a niche among the value seekers, and that is Barbera. There were good reasons — poor winemaking chief among them — that Barbera had been ignored in the past.

Barbera can sometimes exhibit unpleasant acidity, but better practices in the vineyard and winery have resulted in more attractive wines that are both long-lived and affordable. The Quattro Leoni delivers lovely aromas of dark cherry and raspberry, with hints of leather, spice and coffer. The nose offers a seductive floral quality, and on the palate, the wine has an underlying minerality and earthiness that is a soul mate to grilled meats and artisan cheeses. Rating: 90.

TASTING NOTES

Frank Family Vineyards 2008 Chardonnay, Napa Valley ($32) — Fans of rich, oily California Chardonnay might take a price break from the likes of Rombauer and trade down to the Frank Family, which to my mind is a better wine anyway. The Frank Family Chards have been remarkably consistent over the past decade, exhibiting ripe aromas of pear and apple with nuances of honey and spice and enough lip-smacking acidity to deliver a full-bodied, complex white that stands up to rich sauces and strong flavors. The conventional wisdom holds that Chardonnays of this ilk won't age and are for immediate gratification only. I would dare to differ, having recently enjoyed a 2005 Frank Family Chardonnay that remained fresh and very much alive. Rating: 92.

To find out more about Robert Whitley and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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