gerald wrote:

> Do you judge all cab franc by a single 25 year old wine durnk over 15
> years ago?

Where did you get this idea. I wrote nothing of the sort. Of course
much of the best Cabernet Franc (and plenty of very common stuff) has
long come from the Loire in France, but it usually is named for a
subregion and often an individual vineyard for the best examples. Tons
of poor Cabernet Franc under various names, often nearly a rose,
imported into the US in the early days gave this grape a bad name. More
recently a few really outstanding Loire examples can be found here. For
example Clos de la Dioterie (from Chinon in the Loire) SCEA Charles
Joynet 1990 was an outstanding example and has aged very well. There
are several other top producers.

>
> Took a long time for CA to get the grass out of the cab franc.
>
> And I recall the Zins from the early 70's. very bitter. an attempt
> to do zin in the bordeau style.
>
> Grunlach Bunc(sp) has made some beautiful cab francs. fairly light by
> cab standards

Yes there were vegetable tastes in many white and red wines in the 70s.
Because of urban sprawl and the need to expand vineyards, many planted
vineyards in new regions. Some regions were not suited for some grapes,
and the way the vines were pruned and trained often had to be changed.
Excessive leaves sometimes had to be removed. I can recall many reviews
of wines from new regions in that era that mentioned asparagus, weeds,
etc in describing the taste and smell of the wines. Of course the best
growers in the 70s already had a long track record of making
outstanding wine. For example, Ridge usually made a top Monte Bello CS,
and they made many top Zinfandels from various regions. Many of these
wines still are drinking well. BV has had ups and downs, but they made
many top Private Reserve CSs in the 50s and 60s, and some of these
still are drinking well.