Cabernet Franc has been reported to possibly come from Navarra

Could Cabernet Franc, the Loire and Bordeaux grape variety, have its home in Navarra in Spain? Well Ana Sagüés Sarasa reported in the Drinks Business that monastic documents from the fourteenth century mention Cabernet Franc in connection with the region.

In the book “Wine Grapes” published by Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding and Jose Vouillamoz, Cabernet Franc parentage is Spanish grapes Morenoa and Hondarribi beltza. Both are from Spain’s Basque region suggesting that the grape was Spanish. The earliest record in the Loire comes from the 1534, well after the Navarra reference.