Types of Wine: Cabernet Sauvignon Wines
The Cabernet Sauvignon is spoken of in terms of respect and austerity. The intense, flavorful dense dark grape yields wine that can be lightened during blending but mixed to impactful substance that astonishes drinkers. The tannins concentrate the dark fruit deeply into the wine and the casking and fermentation. The darker European vintages of Cabernet Sauvignon insert an assertive note into the meal or tasting. California, Australian, and Chilean, and other entries into the Cabernet Sauvignon wine making derby are regularly tasted and compared in the wine press.
Cabernet Sauvignon is a grape that yields excellent wine with a restrained taste of varietal blending. A full bodied wine with a lot of mouth, a good bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon will compliment a good steak. The true “Cab” will have richly dense flavors redolent of the grape, since the thick skin affects the must as the wine base settles in the vat. Thick skinned grapes take longer to mature on the vine and are not as sensitive to early maturation and weather fluctuations as a thinner skinned fruit.
Light maceration will yield a lighter more black currant texture, heavier maceration will absorb the tougher grape quality. Cabernet Sauvignon is heavily in demand as its drinking value expresses heavy notes of herbs and earth like peppers and olives, ginger and pimento as well as the black cherry, raisin, currant fruitiness. The astringent notes of the finished wine will also absorb many casking and bottling nuances introduced at a later stage for flavor and bouquet. Aromas of smoke, tobacco, leather and even mint may rise out of the Cabernet Sauvignon deep fruit flavors and earth spice.
Many collectors and oenophiles prefer wood casked and stored Cabernet Sauvignon to bottle aged blends. Peaking of dry aged versus bottled aged Cabernet Sauvignon wine is a hot debate among wine lovers. Peaking is a term used by oenophiles when the myriad tastes and values of a particular wine’s drinkability evolve to a high that will never be matched again. The finish of a peaking wine will be long lasting and linger in the mouth, versus quick fading, overly sugary, and reduced flavor due to aging.
The Cabernet Sauvignon will be a predictably deep red of the purple or black cherry hue, possibly lighter or darker depending on percentage blend and the color of the grapes used to yield the final wine mixture. A Cabernet Sauvignon will likely be spoken of as having great “body”, that is, a robust mix of flavors and hues that render a multiple nose and mouth experience. The “mouth” will be flavorful and pasting, since many intense earth and potential wood flavors can play across the tongue.
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