Celebrating Cabernet Franc Day with 3 Sustainable Wines from France’s Loire Valley Paired with Stuffed Squash and Smoked Ham

Celebrating Cabernet Franc Day with 3 Sustainable Wine from the Loire Paired with a fall harvest menu of Stuffed Squash and Smoked Ham

Are you a fan of fragrant, elegant Cabernet Franc? You know, the grape that is the parent of Cabernet Sauvignon and Carmenere? While most people enjoy it as a grape blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot whether they know it or not, it is most well known on its own in the Loire, France where my writing partner Sue Hill and I found ourselves during harvest in 2019 on our way to the World Wine Tasting Championship at Chateau Chambord.

Chateau Yvonne winemaker Mattui Vallee and his dad during the 2019 harvest — SO CUTE!

While Sue is a huge fan of wines with a lot of the turpene or chemicals that give Cabernet Franc its distinct “green” notes of bell pepper, green bean, and jalapeño, I am not — unless those green notes are balanced with fruit and lovely tannins like we found in the biodynamic wineries we visited in the Loire: Manoir de la Tete Rouge, Amirault and Las Quartoneres, and Chateau Yvonne.

If you’re a fan of biodynamic wines, this region of France is actually full of them as one of the biodynamic pioneers was based here and spread the word. Today, not every one “goes to church” but they still practice. 

A rainy day visit to the vineyard of Chateau Yvonne DURING harvest with the winemaker Mattui Vallee

We first knew about Las Quaterones from a sample we received, Chateau Yvonne was a wine we found at the Winehouse LA, and we learned about Manoir de la Tete Rouge because our Air B n B host had an open bottle and a connection for us. When we arrived in the Loire, we had no appointments, and by the time we left, our days, our hearts, and palates were full.

Tasting at Chateau Yvonne with lunch with the winemaker and his family and a few of his crew

As wines from the Loire hold a special place for us, we are happy to share these three wines on Cabernet Franc Day 2024. (Scroll down for links to previous Cabernet Franc Day posts!) 

Celebrating Cabernet Franc Day with 3 Sustainable Wine from the Loire Paired with Stuffed Squash and Smoked Ham

3 Cabernet Franc from the Loire 

  • 2021 Domaine Audebert Rosé Bourgueil Protege 
  • 2019 Chateau Yvonne “L’ile Quatre Sous” AOC Saumur Champigny
  • 2018 Domaine Fillatrreau “Villes Vignes” AOC Saumur Champigny  

Menu

  • Beets, feta, walnuts on spring greens: because this salad works! And we saw so many roasted beets at the Farmer’s Market!
  • Sausage bites: puff pasty wrapping two kinds of sausage– delicious! easy!  
  • Roasted heirloom squash stuffed with herbed wild rice and mushrooms 
  • Smoked ham 

2021 Domaine Audebert Rosé Bourgueil Protege

2021 Domaine Audebert Rosé Bourgueil Protege 

ABV: 13%
SRP: $25
Grapes: Cabernet Franc
Importer: Wine Agencies Jeff Welburn Selection
purchased on sale  

Did you realize that Cabernet Franc in the Loire started in Bourgueil? This is an amazing area of the Loire located along the river and with epic limestone and limestone caves which Xavier Amirault shared with us. So when I saw this wine for sale, I had to have it! And it certainly did not disappoint — I know I paid around $10 and I should have bought more!  

Traditional fermentation and maceration lasts to 2 or 3 weeks depending on the vintage with indigenous yeasts for better fermentation and to retain the character of their different soils. Stainless steel vats vinification, then 600 liters barrels for aging. 

Appearance:  Very colorful, peachy, salmon, saffron, pale gold rim.

Aroma: Wild rose, violet, carnation, limestone, cherry blossom, hint of cherry, wild strawberry, rushing river, moving water, cherry vanilla.

Palate: Fresh bright tart cherry, wild strawberry, very nice acidity, clean minerals, this is a very refreshing wine, well made, beautifully balanced, very easy to sip on. 

Pairing: No surprise to us the wine went very nicely with the sausage rolls, the cherry notes in the wine are enhanced and the herbs and spices in the sausage pops when the two are paired. Perfect with the ham, the spices and the glaze on the ham bring out beautiful baking spices in the wine, the wine becomes full of fruit and the spices and smoke in the ham are enhanced, the wine elevates the ham and the ham elevates the wine, very nice with the stuffed squash loving the pancetta and seasonings in the rice, bringing out the lovely fruit in the wine, so very good with our beet salad, bringing out such a lovely spiciness to the wine. 

2019 Chateau Yvonne “L’ile Quatre Sous” AOC Saumur Champigny

2019 Chateau Yvonne “L’ile Quatre Sous” AOC Saumur Champigny

ABV: 13%
SRP: text
Grapes: Cabernet Franc
Importer: T. Elenteny, New York
purchased by Sue at Ojai’s Pont de Chene  

Appearance:  Very pretty, beautiful gradations, dense as in unfined and unfiltered, the rim is still bright and vibrant, ruby, mauvish rim, the color of a red rose, 

Aroma: Bell pepper, green bean, baking spices, cinnamon, cardamon, clove, rose geranium, pickled beets, so interesting, intriguing. 

Palate: Cherry pie with baking spices, tart fresh cherries black pepper, fantastic texture, the tannins have been beautifully intergrated, rounded tannins, green beans, pickled beets (not vinegary, maybe marinated or cured) more like a fermented beet, has the earthy sweetness of a beet, we felt this wine would also be perfect with a strawberry spinach salad.

Pairing: Fantastic with the beet salad, the beets bring out the earthy beet notes in the wine, the combination of the salad brings out a savoriness in the wine. Perfect with our little sausage puff appetizers, bringing out such luscious fruit in the wine, the wine also responds nicely to the puff pastry, the ham just melts in your mouth when paired with this wine, brings out tart cherry fruit and makes the wine sing juicy bright fruit, the spices in the ham are beautifully enhanced, like candy together, the stuffed squash was alright with the wine but didn’t blow our minds, the herbs in the dish kind of overwhelmed the wine. 

2018 Domaine Fillatrreau “Villes Vignes” AOC Saumur Champigny

2018 Domaine Filliatreau “Villes Vignes” AOC Saumur Champigny 

ABV: 14.5%
SRP: 
Grapes: Cabernet Franc
Importer: LDM Wines
sample for my review 

Appearance:  For a 2018, the wine seems quite youthful, beautiful translucence however it looks to be unfined and unfiltered, ruby, Cherokee purple heirloom tomato, orangish rim, 

Aroma: Roasted bell pepper, clay, cherry pipe tobacco, leather, church spices, frankincense, myhr,

Palate: This is a WOW kind of wine, concentration of fruit that pops, very juicy yet not flabby, nice acidity, balanced soft tannins, roasted bell pepper, roasted cherries, raspberry, limestone, chalky texture, macerated fresh cherries, dark chocolate and cocoa nibs on the finish

Pairing: Absolutely perfect with the stuffed squash, it loves the herbs and the creamy sweet squash, such and interesting finish the wine and the squash are perfect companions it was a BAM companion to the wine, so you don’t think of Cabernet Franc as being a cocktail wine, however with the right appetizers the wine becomes a perfect appetizer wine, as it was with our sausage puffs even though it wasn’t a French sausage in the middle. The ham was also fantastic with the wine, almost hedonistic it was so good, The wine was so nice with the wine, so often this beet salad is done with candied nuts, however we felt that the candied nuts would have been too sweet for the wine, going with regular toasted walnuts was better for the wine, a salad with the roasted squash salted bacon and pepitias would have been perfect, I wanted some of the rice grains mixed in with the salad and did it myself, the rice mix with the salad makes the salad better for this wine. 

Previous Cabernet Franc wines and pairings:

Coming up: a Cabernet Franc from Paso Robles Midpoint! 

Please Comment! I'd love to hear from you!