Havas & Timár, Franom (Cabernet Franc), 2018

Havas & Timár Winery, Eger Region

This is 100 percent Cabernet Franc from 30-year-old vines from Eger’s Rádé vineyard. The Bordeaux variety of Cabernet Franc has found itself very much at home in Hungary. While the southern region of Villány has been building the Villányi Franc brand, Cabernet Franc also thrives in the cooler climate and volcanic soils of Eger, which provide the impressive structure-building acidic backbone. Winemaker Balázs Havas and his co-owner László Timár are childhood friends who created this winery after studying winemaking and working in hospitality. They only have 1.5 hectares of their own vineyards. But they buy grapes from other local growers, and are actively involved in the vineyard work and harvesting. Their philosophy is to make wine from only the best, fully-ripened grapes. Their goal is for all of the grape’s own aromas and flavors to be fully present. Havas decided against filtering the wine to keep the fine flavors at their fullest. He has managed to capture Cabernet Franc’s highly sought herbaceous, leafy note by picking it earlier rather than later, on the cusp of full ripeness, well before the grapes became overripe. He also does several harvests to get only the most perfect grapes. This wine has juicy fruitiness and spiciness in abundance, with pronounced aromas and flavors of eucalyptus, tobacco, autumn leaves, cassis and truffles, as well as the dominant fruits (black cherry, blackberry, sour cherry, and black currant). The lively and long acidity brings tension and makes the wine very long and refined on the palate. This is a medium-plus rather than full-bodied, but really complex and elegant, with a thick finish. It’s the ideal companion for red meat and game, as well as just about anything grilled.

Read About The Eger Region

Read About Cabernet Franc