Cabernet Sauvignon Overview Cabernet Sauvignon is the main component of the famous wines of the Médoc of the Left Bank of Bordeaux, where it is usually blended with other, softer varietals, especially Merlot. The French consider its characteristics to be too "severe" to make a single-varietal wine, although it is grown to make a single varietal wine extensively in the New World, especially in California. However, the trend is now toward blending with Merlot to add more fruit to the middle palate. A recent movement is toward blending with local varietals, as in Italy or Spain. Cabernet Sauvignon gives the most long lived of all wines.
Cabernet Sauvignon is a late-budding, late ripening, relatively low-yielding variety. In a climate that is too warm, it may become jammy, with flavors of cooked blackcurrants. It does not tolerate very dry conditions, and therefore does not do so well in hot climates where irrigation is not allowed (such as Languedoc). The high levels of methoxypyrazine at véraison (30 ng/l) fall as the result of sunlight, and in a suitable climate end up below the level of detection (2 ng/l).
Soil:Bordeaux is the Northern limit for growing Cabernet Sauvignon, with later ripening than Cabernet Franc or Merlot. Cabernet Sauvignon does best on soils that warm up quickly, hold the heat well, and are well drained; the gravel-based soils of the Left Bank of Bordeaux are the paradigm in an average vintage, gravel/clay does well in a hot vintage. Ripening is more irregular on limestone. It does not achieve sufficient maturity on the clay-based soils of the Right Bank. In warmer climates, good drainage of infertile soil is more important than the exact composition, as seen in the Terra Rossa of Coonawarra and the alluvial soil of the Rutherford bench of Napa valley.
Vinification of Cabernet Sauvignon The berries are very small and thick-skinned, and so have a high proportion of pips and skin to pulp. The concentration of pips increases the tannins; the skin gives deep color to the wine. It has high phenolic content. Cabernet Sauvignon tends to give low yields, so the wine usually retains its character well in a variety of conditions. Cabernet Sauvignon combines well with new oak, and the Bordeaux 225-liter barrique has become standard for its maturation over the world. The tannins can now be better controlled as the result of advances in vinification, and are often ameliorated by maturation in oak, although the wine is usually blended with another, softer varietal. Carbonic maceration may be used to make softer wines intended for immediate consumption.
Origins and clones of Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon originated in a cross of Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc. It shares with Sauvignon Blanc the methyoxypyrazines that can give it a herbaceousquality (usually showing as the characteristic bell peppers). The berry size varies with different clones, and growers may choose clones accordingly (e.g. in some conditions to avoid too small a berry size that would make overly tannic wines). New clones are now available that do better in cooler climates, showing riper fruits, lower acidity, and less herbaceous aromas.
Wine characteristics of Cabernet Sauvignon The aromas of Cabernet Sauvignon vary according to terroir and ripeness, going from unripe (vegetal, peppers), to ripe (blackcurrants, cassis, wild strawberries), at the optimum of good hydric stress to mint, liquorice, cedar, and burned wood. In a blend it brings aromas, elegance, freshness of tannins, and ageworthiness. When grown in a cool climate, or if grapes are picked too early, Cabernet Sauvignon can take on a herbaceousquality of bell-peppers. As shown on the nose, in average to warm climates there are typically aromas of blackcurrants, even cassis from New World wines that may verge on aromatic. On the palate, the wine is classically dense, tannic, astringent when young, maturing slowly to show full body and soft fruits. It is probably the world's best known grape for aging potential. The long-lived wines of Bordeaux have created a mystique whose emulation has been a target for many other regions, such as Napa valley.
The taste of Cabernet Sauvignon Aromas and taste are very much influenced by ripeness, with the herbaceous notes of methoxypyrazine coming from grapes at less than full ripeness and with blackcurrants showing from ripe grapes, becoming aromatic as the grapes go into over-ripeness.
Classic Bordeaux has notes of bell peppers to accompany the black fruits, but in more recent vintages these are less common, and the blackcurrants are more evident.
CaliforniaCabernet Sauvignon varies from relatively soft and amorphous black fruits at the generic level to intense blackcurrants from Napa, somewhat leaner from Sonoma.
Washington State produces Cabernet Sauvignon in a relatively austere style.
Cabernet Sauvignon from Australia tends to exuberance, with intense aromatics accompanying the blackcurrants from Barossa Valley, less aromaticity from McLaren Vale, and more precise, elegant fruits from Coonawarra.
Chile produces Cabernet Sauvignon in the style of California, but the fruits tend to be less well focused and less intense.
Argentina produces somewhat lighter weight Cabernets, rarely showing herbaceous notes, light fruits on the palate, and distinguished from the Malbec by sterner, less lush tannins; color tends to be garnet whereas Malbec tends to ruby.
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