2020 Cabernet Franc, Perfect Simplu, Catleya

• Grape Variety: 100% Cabernet Franc
• Vineyard: young vines located in Corcova, Romania; organic grapes;
  
• Style: dry red wine, red-violet color, a round body with balanced, varietal-specific tannins, complemented and rounded by the time spent in barrel, complex aromas ranging from cherry to blackcurrant, spicy notes of peppermint to sweet chilli; 13.5% vol alc.
• LIMITED EDITION: 6146 bottles

Wine-making:

• Hand harvested in small crates;
• Pre fermentation maceration for 10 days to extract colour and aromas;
• Alcoholic fermentation performed by indigenous yeasts;
• Post fermentation maceration for 10 days to extract tannins;
• Malolactic fermentation performed by indigenous yeasts;
• Aging on fine lees during 10 months (80% of the volume in stainless tanks and 20% of the volume in new medium roasted 225 L Romanian barrels).

About the grape variety

In 1997 it was shown by pioneers of applying DNA analysis to grapevines that Cabernet Sauvignon is the progeny of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc, so in fact Cabernet Franc, whose origins seem to lie in Basque country in the western Pyrenees, must predate Cabernet Sauvignon by quite a while.

As a vine and a wine, Cabernet Franc is more precocious than Cabernet Sauvignon. Cabernet Franc buds and ripens at least a week before Cabernet Sauvignon, which makes it particularly useful in Bordeaux’s cooler vintages when the more famous Cabernet may not reach full ripeness at all. In fact, underripe Cabernet Sauvignon can smell remarkably like fully ripe Cabernet Franc, both of them exhibiting a certain leafy, currant bush aroma. But fully ripe Cabernet Franc has a lovely lightness of touch, lighter and softer than Cabernet Sauvignon so that the wines can mature several years ahead of Cabernet Sauvignon grown in the same vineyard.

About the winery

Laurent Pfeffer is a french wine engineer and oenologist trained in Bordeaux, who first discovered Romania during a period of study and never wanted to leave. After realising the viticultural potential of Romania, he decided to look for land suitable for growing vines. Fate directed him to Corcova, where he discovered the history and winemaking tradition of this region. 

In 2007 he decided to settle here and founded the Catleya estate, which he currently runs together with his wife, Anne-Cecile. Since 2021, the Catleya estate has been converting to organic farming, both in the vineyard and in the cellar, in order to materialise our efforts through the certification of an approved body.