Mossik
White Rock Vineyard JouJou Cabernet Franc
Napa Valley, California, USA
Jou Jou Vin 2011 Mossik Cabernet Franc from White Rock Vineyard, Napa Valley. It's always difficult when tasting friends wines to remain objective, and while I want to shout this wine from the hilltops (Radio-Coteau style!) I also want to be I also aspire to eliminate personal biases - positive or negative. Jou Jou you should know your wine received much conversation towards a mostly positive frame. The touch of brettanomyces was dually noted, there were comments on carbonic maceration, but I found balance throughout. I jested about the wine being topped with Baudry La Croix Boissée but the fact is, this wine has a strain of brett that works well with the fruit. The brett adds a spicy, wet earth, or mulchy wet tobacco leaf component that lends itself to wines of Chinon or Bordeaux. Is that replicable? Future vintages will tell. Will it grow in bottle? I plan to drink many more for my own recognizance. First day had some notes of carbonic maceration and brighter red fruits, along with that leafy Cab Franc character, fine dense tannins and moderate acidity with a slight sour note likely a proponent of brett. Day 2: I'll be damned. This is some damn good shit. It's worth that $250 dollar price tag! ;) But truly, the leaf/mulch quality is intact and integral, the darker berry fruits come out but there is still a pleasant sour cherry mid-palate that combines with the albeit softer yet still dense/fine mouth filling tannins. I realize part of the reason this wine was the talk of the blind tasting was that the brett, while in balance, set it apart from every other wine tasted. It was unique, it spoke of an older world style, it crept up in conversation because it lent something else to talk about. Kudos Jou Jou. The wine was made from 12 year old CF vines farmed organically (uncertified) grown in a layer of white volcanic ash. Grapes are fermented WC with ambient yeast in open top macro-bins, gently foot tread, native ML, pressed dry into 75% neutral FO and 25% Stainless Steel. 50 ppm SO2 added post ML, 10-15ppm added before bottling, racked once to bottle in June 2012. 25 cases produced. Good luck finding some!
Jou Jou Vin 2011 Mossik Cabernet Franc from White Rock Vineyard, Napa Valley. It's always difficult when tasting friends wines to remain objective, and while I want to shout this wine from the hilltops (Radio-Coteau style!) I also want to be I also aspire to eliminate personal biases - positive or negative. Jou Jou you should know your wine received much conversation towards a mostly positive frame. The touch of brettanomyces was dually noted, there were comments on carbonic maceration, but I found balance throughout. I jested about the wine being topped with Baudry La Croix Boissée but the fact is, this wine has a strain of brett that works well with the fruit. The brett adds a spicy, wet earth, or mulchy wet tobacco leaf component that lends itself to wines of Chinon or Bordeaux. Is that replicable? Future vintages will tell. Will it grow in bottle? I plan to drink many more for my own recognizance. First day had some notes of carbonic maceration and brighter red fruits, along with that leafy Cab Franc character, fine dense tannins and moderate acidity with a slight sour note likely a proponent of brett. Day 2: I'll be damned. This is some damn good shit. It's worth that $250 dollar price tag! ;) But truly, the leaf/mulch quality is intact and integral, the darker berry fruits come out but there is still a pleasant sour cherry mid-palate that combines with the albeit softer yet still dense/fine mouth filling tannins. I realize part of the reason this wine was the talk of the blind tasting was that the brett, while in balance, set it apart from every other wine tasted. It was unique, it spoke of an older world style, it crept up in conversation because it lent something else to talk about. Kudos Jou Jou. The wine was made from 12 year old CF vines farmed organically (uncertified) grown in a layer of white volcanic ash. Grapes are fermented WC with ambient yeast in open top macro-bins, gently foot tread, native ML, pressed dry into 75% neutral FO and 25% Stainless Steel. 50 ppm SO2 added post ML, 10-15ppm added before bottling, racked once to bottle in June 2012. 25 cases produced. Good luck finding some!
1 person found it helpfulMay 22nd, 2013
I am heavily biased when it comes to friends' wines, and that is as it should be. Life is short, we drink the wines of people we like. That said, I finally got to try this wine, after years of discussing it...holy crap...I forgot that it was a friend's wine, it hit me hard, and in a different kind of personal way that had nothing to do with friends or even wine drinking pleasure...what it did was it instantly proved that Cab Franc can express that certain mysterious thing right here in sunny California, that we are capable of a wine like that, that affirmation was something I won't forget any time soon.
I am heavily biased when it comes to friends' wines, and that is as it should be. Life is short, we drink the wines of people we like. That said, I finally got to try this wine, after years of discussing it...holy crap...I forgot that it was a friend's wine, it hit me hard, and in a different kind of personal way that had nothing to do with friends or even wine drinking pleasure...what it did was it instantly proved that Cab Franc can express that certain mysterious thing right here in sunny California, that we are capable of a wine like that, that affirmation was something I won't forget any time soon.
May 11th, 2017
Jou Jou Vin 2011 Can Franc.
Jou Jou Vin 2011 Can Franc.
May 25th, 2013
Cheering from the heartlands for this one! California cab franc!
Cheering from the heartlands for this one! California cab franc!
May 21st, 20132011 Reveuse + Mossik joujou Cabernet franc. Unreleased.
2011 Reveuse + Mossik joujou Cabernet franc. Unreleased.
Dec 22nd, 2012Still one of my favorite ever Cab Francs. It loses the bell pepper bite a bit as it ages (just drank this in 2021) but develops a deeper and more nuanced flavor profile that is also very enjoyable.
Still one of my favorite ever Cab Francs. It loses the bell pepper bite a bit as it ages (just drank this in 2021) but develops a deeper and more nuanced flavor profile that is also very enjoyable.
May 23rd, 2021Strong bell pepper notes...in a good way.
Strong bell pepper notes...in a good way.
Apr 8th, 2018This is a knockout wine, a stunner, a pitch-perfect expression of love for wine in general, and Loire Cab Franc in particular. It's wild in all the right places, and impressively refined where it counts.
Medium ruby color. Arresting and straight-up delicious nose that has a certain choreography to it. Specifically it reminds me of Jiří Kylián - finding freedom within a melange of classicism and visceral impetus. Exuberance in wine is rare enough, but exuberance with such focus and intention?
The classicist bent was my first impression - a correct nose of stewed bell peppers and coffee grounds (pyrazines), earthy dog fur with slight clove (brett), and a savory blackberry-cherry fruit compote.
Tasted blind, you would guess Loire, but you might wonder at the shifting nature, at how occasionally the bretty flavors rear up in a flourish, only to be overshadowed a second later by a warm, pure fruit. There is something haunting about the fruit here - it seems to contain memories of many different wines. The wildness is complex - dried leaves, dog fur, toasted mushroom, spiced clove, moist earth. The pyrazinic aromas have uncommon depth and character - stewed bell pepper, coffee, and nascent tobacco.
On the palate, the wine dances with an elegant 12.6% alcohol frame, vibrant acidity, and satiny tannins - the medium on which the finish is printed. There is a moment, mid-palate, where the individual components come together seamlessly - a strong argument for structural-aromatic integration in the Clark Smithian sense. On the finish, the flavors subtly unravel, then persist like a vocal ensemble with synchronized vibrato.
Get this.
This is a knockout wine, a stunner, a pitch-perfect expression of love for wine in general, and Loire Cab Franc in particular. It's wild in all the right places, and impressively refined where it counts.
Medium ruby color. Arresting and straight-up delicious nose that has a certain choreography to it. Specifically it reminds me of Jiří Kylián - finding freedom within a melange of classicism and visceral impetus. Exuberance in wine is rare enough, but exuberance with such focus and intention?
The classicist bent was my first impression - a correct nose of stewed bell peppers and coffee grounds (pyrazines), earthy dog fur with slight clove (brett), and a savory blackberry-cherry fruit compote.
Tasted blind, you would guess Loire, but you might wonder at the shifting nature, at how occasionally the bretty flavors rear up in a flourish, only to be overshadowed a second later by a warm, pure fruit. There is something haunting about the fruit here - it seems to contain memories of many different wines. The wildness is complex - dried leaves, dog fur, toasted mushroom, spiced clove, moist earth. The pyrazinic aromas have uncommon depth and character - stewed bell pepper, coffee, and nascent tobacco.
On the palate, the wine dances with an elegant 12.6% alcohol frame, vibrant acidity, and satiny tannins - the medium on which the finish is printed. There is a moment, mid-palate, where the individual components come together seamlessly - a strong argument for structural-aromatic integration in the Clark Smithian sense. On the finish, the flavors subtly unravel, then persist like a vocal ensemble with synchronized vibrato.
Get this.