The Winery: Coffee Pot Cellars
The Winemaker: Adam Suprenant
The Wine: 2020 Cabernet Franc, 13% abv
The Price: $29.99
The Grapes: 88% cabernet franc, 12% merlot
When it comes to cabernet franc, winemaker Adam Suprenant is happy to play favorites. “I could write you an essay here. Cabernet franc is the yang to merlot’s yin,” says the seasoned winemaker and co-owner of Coffee Pot Cellars with his wife, Laura Klahre. “I call it my super-second favorite red grape grown on Long Island.”
While merlot takes the lion’s share of grape acreage on Long Island, cabernet franc has easily become the darling of many a winemaker. It elegantly responds to our climate and soil, naturally producing wines that veer toward the lighter side of the red spectrum, but that also offer concentration and complexity in flavor. Instead of being gulpable and forgettable, cabernet franc here tends to lean into its herbaceous, dark-fruit quirkiness, lingering on the palate — and in your memory.
While the 2020 vintage raised an eyebrow or two, its development in the bottle is proving to be something to savor. “It was not as warm as the phenomenal 2019 vintage and a little wetter around harvest time,” says Suprenant, “but it has become something of a sleeper vintage with the way our red wines are developing in the bottle, especially the franc.”
It’s nature, sure, but you can’t discount the nurture that smart, knowledgeable vineyard managers and winemakers, like Suprenant, impose upon their fruity charges.
“I’m an old-school, minimalist winemaker who believes that great grapes make great wine. I spent lots of time walking the vineyard during the growing season and worked closely with the vineyard manager to ensure maximum ripeness before picking,” says Suprenant. “A two-week fermentation was combined with long pumpover times for maximum extraction and was followed by 18 months aging in mostly older barrels until the wine was bottled in August 2024.”
What’s in your glass: That little bit of merlot? Suprenant blends it in to add to the structure and weight of the typically more medium to medium-light body of cabernet franc. That small amount does wonders for the wine’s presence on your tongue, but doesn’t change the varietal character that you know and love of cabernet franc. “Our cabernet franc typically has brambly flavors with some spice and earthiness and soft, round tannins,” says the winemaker.
Pairs with: “I make a classic Beef Bourguignon using our cabernet franc instead of a red Burgundy,” says Suprenant. “We also pair it with homemade barbecue pork spareribs fresh from our smoker. When we are in vegetarian mode, a hearty cannellini bean stew with plenty of sautéed mushrooms and thyme.”
To hold or not to hold: From the winemaker’s lips: “It drinks really well now but I could see it getting better with another three to five years of aging.”
