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If Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are, respectively, Bordeaux‘s king and queen, Cabernet Franc is its prince.
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Ripening earlier than Cabernet Sauvignon, it acts both as a great blender with its special fragrance and at the same time as a form of insurance policy. On the cooler, clay soils of the Right Bank, it forms the backbone of many of the supple delicious, blackcurrant and red berry fruit of St Emilions and Pomerols, most notably Cheval Blanc. Outside Bordeaux it’s the major red grape of the Loire, where it’s more herbaceous in style, as it also tends to be in north-east Italy. The name used for it in the middle Loire is Breton. It is also grown in California, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.
SEE: Top Loire Cabernet Franc wines | Great Cabernets of the World: Decanter tasting