Cabernet Sauvignon

Country: US / Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon California Winery: Braveheart / California This engages the taste buds with bright, ripe fruit flavors and balances them with good crisp acidity and light tannins, plus spicy oak accents that resemble vanilla, allspice and nutmeg. Medium to full bodied, it feels smooth in the mouth but the lip-smacking tannins […]

Country: US / Weinbau Vineyard Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon Washington Winery: Januik / Wahluke Slope Coming from a vineyard best known for its Cabernet Franc, this wine offers aromas of fresh herbs, coffee, cherry and bittersweet chocolate. Cherry and chocolate flavors play well off of each other, with the finish lingering. The barrel influence plays a […]

Country: US / Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon Washington Winery: Forgeron / Columbia Valley (WA) This lightly colored wine displays high-toned aromas of dried herbs, dried flowers, cranberries and cherries. The flavors show a pleasing mixture of concentration and restraint with the Petit Verdot blended in (10%) adding some heft and dryness to the tannins.

Country: US / Horne Ranch Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon California Winery: Beaver Creek / Lake County Good blackberry, black currant, cocoa and cedar flavors in this Cab, and it’s nicely dry, with firm, finely ground tannins. Turns rather sharp on the finish, and that tartness may never go away.

Country: US / Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon California Winery: Huge Bear / Sonoma County Although this Cab is very dry, it’s a bit astringent, with hard, edgy tannins and blackberry fruit flavors that veer into raisins. At its best now, so drink up.

Country: US / Madden Ranch Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon California Winery: Darcie Kent Vineyards / Livermore Valley Dry, sharp and gritty, lacking smoothness and balance in the mouth. Give it a richer texture, and the blackberry and currant flavors would be just fine, even ageable.

Country: Australia / Art Series Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon Western Australia Winery: Leeuwin Estate / Margaret River Perhaps better known for its Chardonnay, Leeuwin also makes an Art Series Cabernet that takes a back seat to no one. The 2002 still boasts youthful scents of fresh mint and cassis, then slowly unfolds on the palate to […]

Country: Australia / First Eleven Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon South Australia Winery: Jim Barry / Coonawarra Jim Barry’s Cab program is on a roll, turning out a consistent set of wines from Clare and Coonawarra. Named in honor of the Australian cricket team, The First Eleven boasts a kaledioscopic range of berry fruit, accented by mint […]

Country: US / Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon California Winery: Brandlin / Mount Veeder Other wineries have produced very good vineyard-designated Cabs from this mountain property. Now Brandlin has a go, and the wine shows promise. It’s considerably more tannic than most expensive New Age Napa Cabs, so dry and astringent that it demands cellar time. But […]

Country: US / Alexander School Top of the Crop Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon California Winery: Alexander Valley Vineyards / Alexander Valley This is a limited-production line from this venerable winery. It’s a very dense, focused Cab, a little too tightly wound to pop the cork quite yet. There’s a sharp pine or balsam zinginess that’s a […]

Country: US / Cote del Sol Estate Vineyards Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon California Winery: Lucas & Lewellen / Santa Ynez Valley This stellar bottling deftly combines both the bright and burned sides of the sipping experience, offering fresh crushed blueberries alongside caramel, cooked dark chocolate and charred toast on the nose. There’s a great array of […]

Country: US / Family Reserve Largo Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon California Winery: McNab Ridge / Mendocino County A gentle giant of a wine, this has huge flavors, great structure and massive fine-grained tannins but it’s still poised and balanced. It smells almost beefy, rich, dark and black cherry-ish, yet with tasty nuances of smoke and caramel, […]