Cab Franc Chronicles - Your source for all things Cabernet Franc!
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Analysis and commentary of the Kelly Washington, 2018 Cabernet Franc, Bridge Pa Triangle, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand.
Kelly Washington wines is a partnership between Tamra Washington and her husband Simon Kelly. Tamra grew up in Malborough, and was working in vineyards and restaurants from an early age, which sparked her fascination with the world of wine. After completing her viticultural and oenology studies in New Zealand, she went on to work in New Zealand, California and Italy, before returning home.
Kelly Washington wines is a premium negociant project, and Tamra is working key growers and select, organically farmed vineyards across New Zealand. Tamra told me it has been her mission since day one to make Cabernet Franc as part of her range of wines. It took her a bit of time to find this special block of Franc in the Howell/Prospect Vineyard in the Bridge Pa Triangle sub-region of Hawke's Bay, and 2018 was her first vintage.
Given that Sauvignon Blanc is king in New Zealand, one would think there might be a good amount of Cabernet Franc planted, but sadly this is not the case. There's currently around 26,559ha of Sauvignon Blanc planted in New Zealand, that represents 64% of the area under vine. The #1 planted red grape variety is Pinot Noir, with about 5807ha planted. Currently, there's only 91 hectares planted of Cabernet Franc planted.
The majority of the Cabernet Franc vines are planted in the Hawke's Bay region on New Zealand's North Island. The plantings are evenly split between the Gimblett Gravels and Bridge Pa Triangle sub-regions.
Hawke's Bay, the country's 2nd largest growing region. It is on the east coast of the North Island, bound by the Pacific Coast and Hawke's Bay itself to the east, and the Ruahine and Kaweke mountains ranges in the west. Descending from these mountains are a series of ancient rivers that have carved out valley, terraces and plains through the Hawke's Bay region that help to define many of its sub-regions.
The climate of Hawke's Bay would be articulated as cool to moderate maritime. The temperatures during the growing season being a touch cooler than Bordeaux, with temperatures warmest near the coast, and getting progressively cooler as you move inland. The temperatures during the summer can get quite warm, the cool Pacific ocean helps to moderate these temperatures.
Hawke's Bay also receives a high number of sunshine hours, around nearly 2200 hours on average, making it one of the sunniest regions in New Zealand, and a low to moderate amount of rainfall, averaging around 800mm with rainfall increasing as you move inland.
The Bridge Pa Triangle is located about 17km inland from the coast, on the southern bank of the Ngaruroro River, and it is on what is essentially one of several alluvial terraces that was carved out by and follow the Ngaruroro River over tens of thousands of years.
There are three main groups of soils in the Bridge Pa Triangle, which are either alluvial sandy-loams and clay-loams that are derived from loess, volcanic ash and greywacke, which is a type of sandstone. All three of these topsoils overlay a very deep sub-soil that is known locally as 'red metals.'
This wine is from a 0.2ha parcel of Cabernet Franc vines planted in 1997 in the Howell/Prospect vineyard, which is in the southern part of the wine district. The vineyard has a north-facing exposure, and is well-protected from excess rainfall from a series of hills to the south. In terms of soils, this block sits on two distinct soils, with Ngatarawa sandy-loam in the upper portion, and Irongate sandy-loam in the lower portion, and they sit atop the all important red metal gravels.
The fruit is hand-harvested and destemmed. Fermentation is with selected yeast, in small open top stainless steel tanks. She will do very gentle pump overs during the active fermentation, and the total time on skins is about 24 days. Aging is French oak barrels, 18% of which is new, and the wine will age for about 10 months before bottling.
0:00 Intro/Overview
1:20 Cabernet Franc in New Zealand
2:39 Hawke's Bay overview and location
3:45 Hawke's Bay microclimate/growing environment
5:32 Bridge Pa Triangle overview
6:27 Bridge Pa Triangle soils
7:28 Vineyard selection
8:57 Winemaking
9:42 Tasting notes
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Website in progress with a full write up and tons more content.
Originally posted to Instagram March 5, 2023.
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Key wine facts below:
Producer: Kelly Washington Wines
Region: Hawke’s Bay
Sub-Region: Bridge Pa Triangle
Vineyard: Howell/Prospect Vineyard
Soils: Ngatarawa sandy-loam and Irongate sandy-loam, atop ‘red metal’ alluvial gravels
Alcohol: 12.5%
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