Calcu Tiny Blocks Gran Reserva Cabernet Franc 2020 (Chile) - Wine Review

Tonight's red wine review is a lovely, sustainable and vegan-friendly Cabernet Franc from Chile. It is brand new to the LCBO and arrived on shelves earlier this month as part of the feature on wines from Chile in the recent LCBO VINTAGES New Release Collection on February 3rd.

It is produced by Calcu Vineyards, a winery project that was established in 2003 by the Hurtado family. With over a century's worth of experience making quality wines in the Colchagua Valley, the Hurtado family found a unique place in Marchigüe, within the Colchagua Valley in central Chile, that is marked by hills of granite stone. The hills are the inspiration for the name Calcu Vineyards - "CAL: Hill" and "CUrá: Stone" - and means Hills of Stone.

The granite hills with clay seams, combined with the proximity of the vineyard to the sea at just 26 kilometres from the Pacific Ocean, as well as the altitude of the vineyard with different orientations of the slopes allows for a perfect blend that reflects the personality of the vineyard. By combining all of these features, it enables each Calcu wine to showcase the brand's characteristic freshness, structure, verve, and depth.

The core values at Calcu Vineyards are excellence, perseverance, and honesty. While sustainability is also one of the four essential values of the Hurtado family, whereby caring for the environment, workers, and the local community is key, Calcu Vineyards was created with the ambition of redefining the Colchagua Valley with world-class, handcrafted wines. With the assistance of winemaking advisor, Xavier Choné, the Hurtado family designed each of the 166 micro-terroirs using a high-precision manual process that followed the orientation of the slopes and natural clay seams that are present on the site. This resulted in a vineyard architecture of small blocks, with many less than 1 hectare in size, with varying slopes and irregular shapes. The nature of these blocks allows each variety to find the ideal place within the vineyard, where it can express its maximum potential. One of the most important aspects of the site is the gentle granitic slopes on the coastal hills. The soil on these slopes contains important seams of clay, which are preserved and maintained as they contribute structure, texture, and depth to the resulting wines.

To craft this red wine, the grapes were manually harvested and double sorted from vineyards situated at their Marchigüe Estate vineyard, 25 km from the Pacific Ocean. The vineyard is planted on the gentle hills of the coastal hills, where the soft sea breeze moderates the temperatures and allows the grapes to develop excellent concentration and fresh, aromatic fruit. The soil in this vineyard is mainly granitic with a significant clay content, characters that positively influence concentration and persistent aromas. The tiny blocks selected for this Cabernet Franc (which also includes splashes of Petit Verdot and Carménère) are planted in the highest sectors of soil with a high presence of quartz, which provides a fantastic combination of fresh fruit, structure, and elegance. It was fermented in stainless steel tanks at temperatures between 20ºC and 24ºC, and underwent 18 days of maceration time with its skins. After completing malolactic fermentation in stainless steel tanks, it was aged for 12 months in French oak barrels.

The 2020 growing season at Calcu was marked by a warm and dry climate. This challenged the team at Calcu because they needed to be more alert than ever in identifying the opportune time for harvest in order to maintain the elegance and natural balance that characterizes the wines from this terroir. The resulting wines from the high quality 2020 vintage have high concentration, excellent colour intensity and complexity, and very good ageing capability. Let's see how this 2020 Cabernet Franc from Chile is tasting tonight...

Tasting Note:

CALCU TINY BLOCKS GRAN RESERVA CABERNET FRANC 2020 - Sustainable, Valle de Colchagua, Chile (#35677) (XD) - $14.95
This blend of 95% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot, and 2% Carménère has a lovely, lifted, medium-high intensity nose of wet earth, mineral, dark fruited (blackberry, black cherry), minty herb, and sweet tobacco aromas. On the dry, ripe, medium+ bodied palate it has lovely, elegant, and balanced aroma replays of dark fruit, mineral, savoury wet earth, blackberry, black cherry, and tobacco flavours with some spicy and herbal notes. It is well-structured with very good acidity and grippy, structured, and mouth puckering tannins. Minerally with dark fruit and tobacco notes linger on the long, crisp, and juicy finish. Enjoyable now, but will reward with 2-3 years in the cellar. Highly recommended buy! Score: 90 pts

While only a limited number of the excellent 2018 Calcu Winemaker's Selection Blend is available on clearance at the LCBO, all wines in the Calcu Vineyards portfolio can be ordered through Agent - Don Ackerman's Wines & Spirits.