Cabernet Sauvignon
The style profiled here is a dry, very full-bodied red Cabernet Sauvignon wine: full, firm, blackcurrant and cedar. Typical alcohol is 13.5 to 15%. Serve it at 16 to 18 °C.
Also called Bouchet, Bouche, Petit-Bouchet, Petit-Cabernet, Petit-Vidure, Vidure, Sauvignon Rouge, Cab Sauv.
The grape
Cabernet sauvignon is the most planted wine grape in the world, and it got there in under two centuries. DNA work at the University of California in 1996 showed it to be an accidental crossing of cabernet franc and sauvignon blanc, which almost certainly happened in south west France in the seventeenth century. That parentage explains the wine: the frame and the blackcurrant come from cabernet franc, and the green, herbal edge comes from sauvignon blanc.
The berries are small and the skins are thick, so the ratio of skin to juice is high, and skin is where colour and tannin live. That is why cabernet is dark, firm and slow to soften, and why it takes oak so well. It ripens late, which is its main limitation: in a cool year or a cool site the pyrazines that give it a bell pepper and green stalk character never break down, and the wine tastes stalky.
It succeeds almost everywhere warm enough to ripen it, which is why it is the default international red. Bordeaux's Left Bank blends it with merlot and cabernet franc over gravel that holds heat. Napa makes it riper and sweeter-fruited. Coonawarra grows it on red terra rossa over limestone and gets mint and eucalyptus. Chile, Tuscany, Spain and Washington all make serious versions. Almost the only thing it will not do is taste light.
BuyingUnder ten pounds or dollars, cabernet is usually a safe rather than an exciting choice. The interesting money is in Bordeaux's lesser communes and in Chilean and Washington bottles at twice the entry price.
Style profile
Our rating of a representative wine- Sweetness
- Bone dry
- Body
- Very full
- Tannin
- Very high
- Acidity
- High
Sweetness and structure vary with the producer, region and winemaking. These ratings describe the style above; check the label for the bottle in front of you.
Food pairings
Where it grows
- Notable regions
- BordeauxTuscanyNapa ValleyPaso Robles AVASonoma CountyAustraliaMargaret RiverSouth AfricaFriuliBritish ColumbiaCanada
- Notable wines
- Classified Bordeaux estates, Californian cult wines
- Soil
- Gravel
- Flavour
- Dense, dark, tannic
- Cool climate
- Vegetal, bell pepper, asparagus
- Medium climate
- Mint, black pepper, eucalyptus
- Hot climate
- Jam
Explore its wine regions
Planting snapshot
2015 observations, OIV 2017 studyOIV recorded about 341,000 hectares worldwide under the reported name Cabernet Sauvignon in its 2015 variety snapshot.
- Spain
- about 20,000 ha (2015)
- China
- about 60,000 ha (2015)
- France
- about 48,000 ha (2015)
- United States
- about 41,000 ha (2015)
- Argentina
- about 15,000 ha (2015)
- Chile
- about 43,000 ha (2015)
- Romania
- about 5,000 ha (2015)
- Australia
- about 25,000 ha (2015)
- South Africa
- about 12,000 ha (2015)
- Greece
- about 2,000 ha (2015)
- Brazil
- about 1,000 ha (2015)
- Hungary
- about 3,000 ha (2015)
Historical, rounded figures, including all uses of the grape. OIV’s variety study covers 75% of world vineyard area. A country absent from this table may still grow this grape.
Countries that build on it
Similar grapes
Sources
- Facts: Wikipedia, Cabernet Sauvignon (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikidata Q207310 (CC0).
- Variety record: Vitis International Variety Catalogue, VIVC 1929.
- Style profile, pairings and serving figures are our own assessment.
- Planting observations: OIV, Distribution of the world's grapevine varieties (2017).