Friday Afternoon Wine

After spending Friday sewing up the details of a project at work, I joined my colleague (you know her as ‘girl-e’) for a celebratory and much deserved glass of wine to wind down a bit. Working in the West End of Glasgow, we found ourselves at Stravaigin on Gibson Street. As they are something of an institution, I won’t take too much time to talk about the food – other than to say that they take beautiful Scottish ingredients and mix things up with fusion-y touches and you can get always get a tasty, reliable burger and chips. What I’d really rather talk about is the lovely wine that we had on this particular occasion. We treated ourselves to a Vina Chocalon, Cabernet Franc Reserva, 2006 from the Maipo Valley in Chile – a large glass to be sure (it was Friday after all). I don’t think I’d ever had a Cabernet Franc from Chile and as I’ve always been a fan of Loire Valley reds (which also tend to be Cab Franc) I though this was worth a try. Well – what a good idea!

Cab Franc tends to be a more medium-bodied wine than, say, its cousin Cabernet Sauvignon (and it is often used in blends with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot - think Bordeaux) but this one was dense and rich and perfumed. It was a gorgeous dark garnet colour with hints of purple. The flavour was quite concentrated with deep, dark cherries, a chocolate-y finish and a lush texture. Girl-e commented that the wine made her think of rich, opulent fabrics and cozy winter nights. With time in the glass, the perfume became more vanilla-scented with hints of pencil lead (a trademark of the grape). It had a nice astringency which made me think it would be lovely with food – such as the aforementioned burger, their lovely haggis or with rabbit, duck or a cheese plate.

If you want to try this wine, then head down to Stravaigin – or, buy this wine from Slurp and start accruing their ‘cork points’ now!