cabernet sauvignon

Genealogically the offspring of cabernet franc and sauvignon blanc, cabernet sauvignon is without question the world's most renowned grape variety for the production of fine red wine. It is the backbone of left bank Bordeaux wines and behind some of the greatest names in the wine world - Lafite, Mouton Rothschild, Haut-Brion. Genetic fingerprinting has proven that cabernet sauvignon is the result of a spontaneous cross between sauvignon blanc and cabernet franc in the 18th century.

Probably the most important aspect of cabernet sauvignon is its ability to produce wines that are so recognizably cabernet. The remarkable characters of cabernet are not only the fruit style - blackcurrant, bell pepper, tobacco and spice - but also its individual structure and its ability to work as a vehicle for vintage and terroir characteristics, winemaking techniques and maturation methods. It can be extraordinarily long-lived with fine, elegant tannins and well-used integrated oak to make some of the finest wines of the world.

It is normally blended with merlot and cabernet franc in Bordeaux, but elsewhere it stands alone as a single varietal. In Australia it is often partnered with syrah (shiraz) to make an easy style of wine at the more commercial end of the market. Throughout the world the Bordeaux blend is imitated, but nowhere else quite achieves the sublime elegance and power of the great Bordeaux Châteaux. Cabernet sauvignon also makes single varietal wines in every conceivable wine producing country from Bolivia to Kyrgyzstan, but it has had most success in California, Australia, Argentina, Chile and South Africa

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