Not Just a Pretty Bottle

Cabernet foch is not exactly a household name variety, but Jürg Stutz, winemaker at Nova Scotia’s Domaine de Grand Pré, hopes it soon will be a fixture in the cellars of local wine lovers. Putting it in a wacky bottle won’t hurt.

Cab foch is not a blend of cabernet sauvignon and maréchal foch; it is a cross developed by Swiss grape breeder Valentin Blattner. It combines cabernet sauvignon character with the winter hardiness and disease resistance of maréchal foch.

Notably grown by Paul Troop at Salt Spring Island Winery in British Columbia, the  experiment crossed the country and started in Nova Scotia in 2004. “The first two rows (about 200 vines) were planted in 2004,” says Stutz. “After a few years of growing experience, we planted another 0.7 acre block in 2008.”

So far, so good. “It seems to be quite winter hardy,” says Stutz. “But, then again, we've had some pretty mild winters lately. Bud break is around the same as maréchal foch. It makes small, loose clusters and ripens at about the same time as the foch.”

This said, they’ve encountered crown gall, losing a quarter of the original vines, and it doesn’t ripen ideally. “They seem to shut down once they reach a certain brix level,” notes Stutz. “We were never able to get them over 22 or 23 brix.”

The 2010 is intensely dark, with lots of oak and grape tannins. It needs air, but rewards the patient taster with ripe berry fruit. The vintage was an exceptional one in Nova Scotia and Stutz thinks it will hold for 5 to 10 years.

Fermented in small, open bins, with twice a day punch downs, it spent a total time of two weeks on the skins of the grapes. After malolactic fermentation, it was aged in a mix of new and used American oak for 10 months.

The bottle is remarkable, a strange design that can rest on an angle or stand straight up. Packaging totaled $6 per bottle, but it paid off. They retailed the Cab Foch at $34.50 — a very high price for a Nova Scotian red — and sold out all 1,000 bottles.

“I thought it was a nice selling tool worthy of the outstanding 2010 vintage,” adds Stutz. “Or the other way around: the 2010 cab foch was worth the extra step we took with the packaging.”