Cabernet Sauvignon

The world's most planted red-wine grape: small, thick-skinned berries that make deep, firm, long-lived wines.

Red
Home: Bordeaux, France
France, USA, Chile, Australia

At a glance

Also known as

Petit Cabernet
Vidure
Sauvignon Rouge

Colour

Red

Origin

Bordeaux, France — a natural cross of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc

Main regions

Bordeaux Left Bank (Médoc, Graves), Napa Valley, Coonawarra and Margaret River, Chile's Maipo Valley, Tuscany, Stellenbosch

Varietal or blend

Both. The backbone of Médoc blends with Merlot and Cabernet Franc; also bottled alone, and paired with Shiraz in Australia.

Body & sweetness

Medium to full-bodied, dry.

Taste & style

Flavour: Blackcurrant and black cherry, cedar and tobacco with age, and a hint of mint or eucalyptus in some New World wines.
Style: Structured and tannic when young, softening over years in bottle. Under-ripe fruit shows a green-pepper note.

In the vineyard & winery

Growing: Late to bud and late to ripen, so it needs warm, well-drained sites — the gravel banks of the Médoc are the classic example. Hardy and fairly resistant to rot.
Winemaking: Usually given a long skin contact for colour and tannin, then aged in oak barrels, often new French oak for top wines.

Food matches

Roast or grilled beef and lamb
Steak with pepper sauce
Hard cheeses such as mature Cheddar
Mushroom and lentil dishes

Notes

Its parents were identified by DNA profiling at UC Davis in 1997.
The best wines can age for 20 years or more.

From the glossary

A "noble" grape famous as one of the main varieties, along with Merlot, Cabernet Franc and others used to create the magnificent french Bordeaux region blended red wines.

From the Wine Grape Glossary by Anthony J. Hawkins (1931–2018), reproduced with authorship credit as he requested. Written in the 1990s.