SUPERIOR WINE ALERT:

Today’s Pinot Noir from our friends at Mayo Family Winery is a wine of great distinction and quality, earning it this special designation. If you haven’t tried the wines from Mayo, this is one to get you started!

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Mission Codename: Days of wine and orchids II

Operative: Agent Red

Objective: Operatives loved the previous Raymond Burr Cabernet Franc, making it one of our best-selling Francs of the day. Send Agent Red back to Burr to sample their newest 100% Cabernet Franc. If the wine is extraordinary, procure an allotment for our Franc-loving Operatives.

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Raymond Burr Vineyards

Wine Subject: 2008 Cabernet Franc

Winemaker: Phyllis Zouzounis

Backgrounder: Cabernet Franc is one of Agent Red’s favorite red varietals. Perhaps this is because its flavors are often rich, layered, complex and elegant. Or, perhaps he loves Cabernet Franc so much because it pairs so easily with many different foods. One of the most notable things about Cabernet Franc is the fact that finding excellent examples can be very difficult This explains why we show very few Francs. When we got a hot tip that Raymond Burr Vineyards (yes, that Raymond Burr) had an incredible new Cabernet Franc, we sent Agent Red to investigate. Read his tasting notes and mission report below.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Deep red hues that remind us of black cherry jell-o. Color is even from core to edge, where the thinnest rend of ruby encircles the wine. Thin, tightly-spaced legs appear almost immediately after swirling, and then streak down to the surface of the wine.

Smell – Candied cherry and brambly blackberry leap from the glass. Even before raising the glass to our noses, these authentic aromas hit us. After a deep inhalation, the initial notes are followed by aromas of dried blueberry, black cherry, dried black rose petals, sweetwoods and a hint of exotic spice.

Feel – Soft and light across the entry. As the wine crosses the mid-palate, it gradually takes on a delightfully chewy feel. It ultimately coats the entire palate as fine-grained tannins add additional texture. An easy dryness soon follows, spreading slowly from the center of the palate, and radiating outward.

Taste – Bold black cherry and smoky cherry take the lead. These are quickly joined by tart cassis, blackberry, dried black flower petals, dark chocolate dust, bramble. At the end, a unique and tasty woodsy flavors emerges.

Finish – Long and flavorful, with cherry yielding to the darker fruits and the uniquely earthen, woodsy, characteristics. The long finish takes you from one flavor to another, in a very distinctive manner; one flavor dwindles, before the next flavor appears.

Conclusion – This is a deliciously balanced Franc that our tasting panel went crazy for. Given its relative youth, we expected it to be tight and hard edged. This was not the case at all; the wine shows great fruit with a great acidity. The earthen characteristics, particularly the woodsy flavor and the bramble, add terrific balance to the bright red fruits. Smooth on the palate, with no rough edges, this is a beautiful Summertime sipping wine. Here at Wine Spies HQ, we pair great Franc like this one with almost anything. This wine is a great BBQ wine, and you can be sure that we’ll keep a few bottles around of the Fall and Winter.

Special Note: For those afraid of the green characteristics that can sometimes plague the varietal, fear not! This wine is bursting with bright red flavors that are tempered by earthy notes, not green pepper notes.

Mission Report:

Alas, dear Operative… Winemaker, Phyllis Zouzounis, was too busy making wine, to sit with us for an interview. What follows, for your enjoyment, is a retransmission of one of our early missions to Raymond Burr Vineyards.

Ask anyone to describe Raymond Burr in a single word and, resoundingly, you will likely hear, Classy.

The veteran actor, for whom today’s winery was honorarily named, was also a cultivator of orchids, a war hero, a philanthropist and more. Most of all, he was cherished and loved by his close friends, who say that his warmth, humor and compassion made him a remarkable man.

When I was given the mission – finally – to seek out a new Cabernet Franc, I riffled through my mental Rolodex and recalled hearing great things about a Cab Franc from Raymond Burr Winery. In fact, it was in the most unusual way that I had come to hear of the wine in the first place.

On returning from a mission to Latin America, our flight got in to Miami too late to make our connecting flight back to California. the airline put us up in a swanky hotel and the next morning we found ourselves in a shuttle back to the Airport. I struck up a conversation with a young couple who were also on our inbound flight and, as always, I steered the conversation toward wine. We compared tastes in varietals and found that Cab Franc wines were among our very favorites. We traded recommendations and they assured me that Raymond Burr had a wine that I would be sure to love.

Now that I was finally assigned a Cab Franc mission I knew just where to go, so I called proprietor and long time companion to Mr. Burr, Robert Benevides. I used the direct approach and told him that I was very interested in sampling his wine and, if they passed the test, feature his Cabernet Franc here for our Operatives to enjoy.

I enjoyed this exceptional wine more with each sip. With enough time to stretch out in the air, the wine really opens up and loses the rough edges present on opening. For best results, decant the wine for a few hours – and enjoy at cellar temperature.

Aromas, flavors, acid and mouth-feel are all in harmony here and the finish is really very unique. If you love great Cabernet Franc, look no further Operative, its right here.

Finally, I remember hearing a story about Mr. Burr that sums up his life and his wines: While working with Errol Flynn, Flynn told Mr. Burr that if he died with ten dollars in his pocket he hadn’t done a good job. This inspired Mr. Burr to always share his wealth with all. His legacy lives on in today’s wine from Mr. Burr’s namesake winery.

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Raymond Burr Winery can be seen in this satellite photo.