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Celebrating #CabFrancDay with Founder Dracaena Wines

Last year, the #WinePW group celebrated the December 4 #CabFrancDay with pairings and wines from around the world. I of course joined in with a selection of Cab Franc wines from Turkey. This year the blog group chose another theme for December, but I’m celebrating the day regardless. And I am so thrilled to, at long last, be able to celebrate it with not just any Cab Franc, but with a bottle of wine from Dracaena Wines, the #CabFrancDay founders!

The Story of Dracaena Wines and #CabFrancDay

Lori and Michael Budd’s winemaking story has a familiar ring to it. Wine lovers who became winemakers. But that’s where the familiarity ends. Both of them have scientific backgrounds, Lori with a B.A. and M.S. in Biology and Michael with a B.S. and M.S. in Food Science. Which means they started in winemaking with a leg up on a lot of people know.

In 2014, they were registered in both NJ and CA as Dracaena Wines. While they live mostly in New Jersey, they grow grapes in Paso Robles and make their wine in California. While they now make a Chenin Blanc, Dracaena Wines’ main focus is Cabernet Franc with which they make as red wines and a rosé. Lori especially, a UC Davis winemaking program graduate, WSET 2 and SommDay Service certificate holder, and Champagne Specialist is a huge lover of Cabernet Franc. So much so, that through her and Michael’s efforts, #CabFrancDay was born.

The Story of #CabFrancDay

There are many grape and wine holidays throughout the year. But until Dracaena Wines came along, there was no day for Cabernet Franc! This despite it being one of the 20 most widely-planted grapes in the world. Now there is, December 4. As she explains on her website, Cab Franc Day, Lori chose December 4 for a very specific region. Cabernet Franc is believed to have been established in the Libournais region of southwest France sometime in the 17th century, when Cardinal Richelieu transported cuttings of the vine to the Loire Valley. December 4th is the anniversary of Cardinal Richelieu’s death.

On December 4, 2015, Lori hosted the inaugural #CabFrancDay on Twitter and soon the hashtag – and the wine! – was trending.

Usually I celebrate this day with Turkish Cab Franc because, well because that’s what I have! I was so thrilled to get a bottle of Dracaena Wines Cab Franc this year that I took the bottle on a little tour of Istanbul!

Dracaena Wines Reserve Plummer Vineyard Cabernet Franc, 2018 

The grapes for this 100% Cabernet Franc were grown in Plummer Vineyard in Paso Robles. Aged in 40% new French oak, the wine was bottled in the summer of 2020. Then it traveled from California to Michigan and onwards to Istanbul!

Despite how excited I was to dive in, I did remember to decant. When I finally poured the wine, the inky, deep purple color coated the inside of my glass. Even though I had decanted it, it still needed time to unfold its true potential. Burstingly ripe black fruits wrapped in warm brown spices of clove and cinnamon hit my nose first followed by old leather. Swirling and more time in the glass released notes of spicy dried lavender and delicate violet.

A lovely elegant and rich wine, each sip showed something new! The creamy texture and finely grained tannins spoke to the wine’s time in oak and lent it a dense core of spice. Full-bodied with 14.4% abv but with nice acidity that kept the plum and fig flavors fresh and everything melded together in a long, smooth finish. The longer I lingered over it, the more the wine revealed blue plums, violets, and cardamom pod flavors.

I served this with Ottolenghi’s lamb and feta meatballs drizzled with pomegranate molasses and a roasted sweet potato salad served on a bed of spinach and dried cranberries. The meatballs themselves were better with the pomegranate, but sadly the molasses did nothing for the wine! But otherwise the flavors in both the meatballs and the salad paired really well with this beautiful wine.