Wine Splash!

We at Wine Splash love going to the Niagara Peninsula in Canada to taste wines! And Chateau Des Charmes is definitely one of our favorite places! The Mansion-like chateau, surrounding vineyards, and elegance of the interior is just magnificent! Last night, we drank the 2009 Estate Bottled Cabernet Franc and truly enjoyed it. A lovely ruby color and just light enough to see through. On the nose, lots of ripe red berry, currant, smoke, and spice. On the palate, it was medium bodied with a soft mouthfeel. The flavors were just perfect with lots of briarberry, young blackberries, white pepper, and spice! Good long finish that evolved into flavors of bell pepper, cassis, and smoky oak. A great wine that paired well with our barbeque ribs last night! Would also pair well with stuffed peppers, pasta with tomato meat sauce, sausage, or chicken with barbeque sauce.

So a very nice Cabernet Franc that pairs well with food. On our SiNoTas scale, we give this 2009 Chateau Des Charmes Cabernet Franc a B+ rating. This was a little bit lighter style than we normally like but still flavorful. If you have the 2009, I think it has enough tannins to do well through 2014. WineSplashing! (88 points)