388 THE ADVOCATE
VOL. 78 PART 3 MAY 2020
tutes about fifteen per cent of the crop, it is regarded as a form of insurance
for their Bordeaux blends when the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot suffer
predations from weather.2
Although not clear, Cabernet Franc’s origins seem to lie in Basque country
in the western Pyrenees. It is believed to have been established in the
Libournais and Loire regions sometime in the 17th century, when Cardinal
Richelieu transported cuttings of the vine to the Loire Valley. They were
planted at the Abbey of Bourgueil under the care of an abbot named Breton,
whose name became associated with the grape.3
It is widely grown in northeastern Italy, where it is often labelled simply
as “Cabernet”, though also as “Bordo” or even “Cabernet Frank” (not to be
confused with the statue spoken of later). It is also grown widely in Slovenia,
Croatia, Albania and Greece (where it is known as “Tsapournakos”, which I
have no idea how to pronounce). Some ampelographers believe the Spanish
Mencía grape is Cabernet Franc, though DNA testing has put this in doubt.
Cabernet Franc is grown in both North and South America, again primarily
for Bordeaux-style blends, in Argentina, Chile, Long Island in New York,
California, Washington and here in Canada in B.C. and Ontario. It has
gained a foothold in Australia and South Africa as well.
I spoke with Sandra Oldfield, who with her husband Kenn was a founder
of Tinhorn Creek Estate Winery on the Golden Mile between Oliver and
Osoyoos. A transplanted Californian, she graduated in oenology from the
prestigious UC Davis, where her research focused on ripening Cabernet
Sauvignon. There she met her husband Kenn, who had purchased the Tinhorn
site and was at Davis to learn viticulture. He wooed and convinced her
to come to B.C. in the mid-90s, and she has never looked back.
Tinhorn Creek was a pioneer in growing Cabernet Franc in B.C. and in
releasing it as a single varietal. Now it is widely planted in the Okanagan
and Similkameen and becoming a staple in many wineries’ repertoires. I
asked Sandra where that prescience came from.
With a modest laugh, she laid this foresight at Kenn’s feet. An engineer
by background and, as she put it, a man with no head (at the time) for marketing,
he noted in his studies at Davis that Cabernet Franc ripens with
fewer “growing degree days” than does Cabernet Sauvignon, and so he concluded
it was a better fit in the Okanagan, due to our overall cooler climate
as compared with California. So he had 25 acres planted in 1994 on Black
Sage Road. When it bore its first crop in 1996, Sandra put her deep knowledge
of Cabernet to the task, and Tinhorn has been producing it ever since.
But then the hard part started. It was an unknown grape at the time and
so a difficult sell. Sandra remembers that in 2002 she was “on the road” for