Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon is the most planted red wine grape in the world, and its dominance rests on a combination of qualities no other variety matches: it is structurally consistent, it ages superbly, it takes oak well, and it tastes recognisably of itself almost anywhere it is grown.

It is a relatively recent grape, a natural crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc that occurred in south-west France, probably in the seventeenth century. The berries are small and thick-skinned, giving a very high ratio of skin to juice, which is the source of the deep colour, the substantial tannin and the capacity to age.

The flavour signature is blackcurrant above all, with black cherry, graphite, cedar and — from the same pyrazines it inherited from both parents — a green note of blackcurrant leaf, mint or green pepper that becomes herbaceous if the fruit is underripe.

It ripens late, which is both its strength and its limitation: it needs heat, and in Bordeaux's Médoc it succeeds because deep gravel banks drain well and retain warmth. In cooler vintages there it does not ripen fully, which is why Bordeaux blends — Merlot and Cabernet Franc ripening earlier — are a form of insurance as much as an aesthetic choice.

Napa Valley, Coonawarra, Maipo, Bolgheri and Stellenbosch all produce distinctive expressions. In Australia the Cabernet-Shiraz blend is a local invention with no European equivalent.

Ageing is where the grape earns its reputation. Young Cabernet is dominated by fruit and by tannin that can feel severe; over ten to twenty years the tannins polymerise and soften, the primary blackcurrant recedes, and cigar box, pencil shavings, dried tobacco and forest floor come forward. The wines from the best Médoc estates are still improving at thirty years and drinkable well beyond fifty.

It is almost always blended in Bordeaux and frequently bottled alone elsewhere, a difference rooted in climate rather than philosophy. Where ripeness is reliable — Napa, Coonawarra, Maipo — the grape can carry a wine on its own. Where it is not, the blend is what makes a consistent wine possible in every vintage.

One consequence of its global spread is worth noting for anyone tasting comparatively: the variety is so recognisable that it tends to speak louder than its site. A Cabernet from three continents will still taste unmistakably of Cabernet, which is either its great virtue or its limitation depending on what you want from wine.