(On tap at Bar Hop, Dec 31 2013) Pours a deep reddish brown, mid-sized frothy off-white head, no lace. Aroma has tart red berries, brambles, kind of herbal. Not too much oak/vanilla, some brown sugar malt aroma, slightly pepepry. Flavour at first has a lot of cab franc characteristics, fruity and slightly tart or acidic, not very much oak. The middle of the palate is more dubbel than the merlot version, brown sugar, malt, a little yeasty. Finish has some decent resin/pepper/fruit character, quite dry and like a cab franc/dark Belgian hybrid. Mouthfeel is medium, smooth, carb moderately high, effervescent. I definitely prefer this to the merlot version, my thoughts about the beers mirror the wines actually. I liked the reduced oak, brighter fruit character and greater ’beer’ character in the cab franc version.