Winey Tasting Notes: Northeast Ohio’s Candlelight Winery Cabernet Franc

There is something infinitely special about sipping on a wine in the place where it was “born”. Which is why I love to visit and eat at wineries. Now, living as I do in Ohio, you might think that I need to travel quite a ways to actually do this. But no!!! Ohio has some amazing wineries – from the shores of Lake Erie right through the northeast part of our state. In fact, that’s where you’ll find Candlelight Winery – right around the corner from me in Garrettsville, Ohio. So I get to put on my “local” hat as well as my “family owned” hat when I write about their wines.

Great story here: Hubby and wife, twin girls. Hubby’s passion was to start a winery. So they did!! They produce 17 wines – red, white and specialty – and have a reputation as a family and community friendly winery (not to mention for offering some great live music!). They grow some of the grapes in their three small vineyards, others are brought in from other growers.

Visiting the winery is a bit like visiting good friends (full disclosure here: I count the aforementioned wife as a good friend). And what better way to drink wine than with good friends, right? On one such visit, Candlelight was offering a “carry out” special – a bottle of their normally $16 Cabernet Franc (12%) for $6.99. Never being one to pass up a sale, especially on a wine that I’d been sipping all night, I purchased a bottle for my own in-house consumption.

Franc (check out the Candle on the label below…you’ll know immediately which “Frank” they mean) is a rusty red color with a bouquet of dark fruit, cocoa and some pepper. Medium bodied, it tastes of pepper and ashes and smooth plum. There’s also a hint of the cocoa and a touch of oak.  Not a wine for the faint of red wine drinkers. I guess you could say it’s a complex wine, with all that taste going on. But there’s no conflict in the complexity! (Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever written a sentence like that before.) The medium finish brings out the tannins in the oak taste.  It really was the perfect wine for a winter evening.  We paired it with a plate of white and yellow Cheddars – yummy!

There will be other reviews coming from Candlelight…my mother in law hasn’t stopped raving about the Gewurztraminer….so stay tuned!

Cheers!

Tweet
Follow @TheWineyMom
Facebook: The Winey Mom