La Frenz Winery
2005 Cabernet Sauvignon(Okanagan Valley)
Jeff Martin, the co-owner and winemaker at La Frenz, got his initial winemaking experience during 20 years with the McWilliam winery in Australia, where he had so much promise the winery helped him through wine school. He has been making wine in the Okanagan since 1994, starting La Frenz in 2000. He retains the ability of so many Australian winemakers to make reds that are both bold and elegant.
This is a good example. Martin says that he built this wine to age. “It is always a winemaker’s dilemma whether to make it drinkable now or a little more structured for increased age-ability – as ours is.” The structure is concentrated, with firm ripe tannins but with no harsh edges. There is a touch of mint and cassis on the nose and a lovely core of sweet fruit on the palate, with a lingering finish. An impressive Cabernet. 90 points.
Reviewed October 20, 2007 by John Schreiner.
Other reviewed wines from La Frenz Winery
The Wine
Winery: La Frenz Winery |
The ReviewerJohn Schreiner has been covering the wines of British Columbia for the past 30 years and has written 10 books on the wines of Canada and BC. He has judged at major competitions and is currently a panel member for the Lieutenant Governor’s Awards of Excellence in Wine. Both as a judge and as a wine critic, he approaches each wine not to find fault, but to find excellence. That he now finds the latter more often than the former testifies to the dramatic improvement shown by BC winemaking in the past decade. |