Damiani Wine Cellars 2007 Cabernet Franc

I'm not sure when I first stumbled upon my now-friend Dave Honig's blog, 2 Days per Bottle, but I do know that it changed the way that I taste and review wines.

I've always frowned upon the "power tasting" that some publications employ -- tasting wines in rapid succession, in a near-clinical environment, spending no more than a few minutes with each wine. Instead, I have always preferred to taste wines over the course of an evening, with and without dinner or other food, to evaluate them in a way more similar to how people actually drink wine.

But Dave's blog has helped me take it even further. On his blog, he answers the question "Why two days per bottle?" this way:

Have you ever noticed how a really mediocre bottle can be much better the second night? Sometimes a wine that is "closed" opens up from exposure to air. This is a great hint that the wine is really not as bad as you thought. It just needs more time in the cellar. Alternatively, something great falls completely flat in just a day - drink all you've got, because there's not much time left. Wine starts changing rapidly the moment you open it.

So, for several months now, I've been tasting wines for at least two days before disposing of the leftovers and writing my final notes. Nena's not happy with this shift, only because our kitchen counter often has 6-10 bottles of wine on it for a couple days after my weekly tastings.

Damiani Wine Cellars 2007 Cabernet Franc ($23) is the kind of wine that needs two days (or more) to really taste and get a sense for.

Right out of the bottle, on day one, I didn't like this wine very much. It had some nice dark fruit, but with a weird chlorine-like aroma that was more than a little off putting. If I hadn't tasted this wine again the second (and third, actually) day, this isn't the review I'd be writing.

Ripe, just-crushed black cherries and blackberries dominate the nose, with dusty cocoa powder and hints of cola, root beer and jalapeno pepper.

The palate is medium bodied, with flavors that closely match the nose -- especially those dark fruits. The smooth tannins are a bit bigger than you might expect and this wine also shows good acidity -- both leading me to believe that it will age well for five years or more.

This wine also serves as a reminder that many of New York's smallest wineries need to release wines long before they really should (or would probably want to), but that's a post for another time. Just know that this wine is not showing its best yet -- far from it.

Producer: Damiani Wine Cellars
AVA: Finger Lakes
Price: $23
ABV: 12.8%
Rating: (3 out of 5 | Recommended) 
(Ratings Guide)

Comments

[Tom Mansell]

Lenn: I just bought some of this and was about to review it. I guess I'll do the Lemberger instead! Curses!

[Evan Dawson]

Lenn,

Interesting -- we opened a bottle of this yesterday, and there was nothing at all like chlorine. In fact, I thought it was a gorgeous representation of what FL Cab Franc should be: Medium-bodied, nice grip, dark fruit, with a supporting note of "good green." Dried herbs, etc.

[Lenn Thompson]

Really? I didn't get what you're describing until day two (and even moreso on day 3) as I said above.

Context and environment can play a part here too. I tasted this blind along with a few Long Island cabernet francs from various vintages.

[Thomas Pellechia]

I like, and subscribe to the two-day plan.

Got on the kick because that's how I used to evaluate new wines that i was thinking about bringing into my retail shop. If it didn't hold up at least two days after opening, i didn't want to sell it, especially since most wine is released a lot sooner than it should be released.

[Tom Mansell]

It's possible that the chlorine-like aroma could be reduced sulfur compounds (which you might associate with the pool), which could vary by bottle (O2 pickup from closure/bottling) and/or environment (aeration to blow off H2S). That's just a guess, though. I haven't seen "chlorine" as a descriptor often, but I did get a whiff of swimming pool when I tasted the Ch.Frank Blanc de Noirs.

Also, I have the same problem with my girlfriend, 6-8 one-third-full bottles just sitting around on the counter (including the blackcurrant juice that i'm fermenting...). It is a source of tension, to be sure.

[Evan Dawson]

Hmm, dissertations likely require more than one run-on sentence i think but i guess i'm not the expert on helping with dissertations this is a good way to get attention.

[Peter Bell / Fox Run]

Too funny!

[Thomas Pellechia]

Evan,

Dissertation's post is exactly that--attention spamming. My blog gets them, and I've seen them all over many other blogs. It's the same pattern: a general statement about how great it is that the blog passes along important information "nice job," and then a signature leading others to a url.

Because of it, I started screening blog comments and zapping the spam.

Worse, are the scrapers who take a complete blog entry through the feed, post it on their blog, and hope for Google Ad clicks before they are found out and have to remove the post.

[Lenn Thompson]

You know what's even worse than comment spammers...you guys for giving him/her/it attention!

I'll never moderate comments (it can slow discussions and isn't as transparent as I think blogs should be) but I WILL be deleting this comment momentarily :)

[Bryan]

Free SO2 aromas are the most likely culprit in my opinion.

Some people are much more sensitive to potassium meta bi-sulfite than others. Since this was probably a recent bottling, they would have just added SO2, and it would be most evident in the first few months. The fact that it blew off within a few days supports the theory.

I am looking forward to the post about releasing wines before they are showing their real potential, I see it everyday up here.

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