What Is Cabernet Sauvignon?

Cole Swanson
March 16, 2025

Cabernet Sauvignon is a red grape that is native to France, specifically Bordeaux. It is a natural crossing of the red grape Cabernet Franc and the white grape Sauvignon Blanc. Often considered the “king grape,” it is the most planted wine grape in the world and is used to make dry wines that are full-bodied with high tannins that can age for decades in the bottle, wherein its complex flavors can develop beautifully. 

It has very thick skins and high acidity, and is late-budding and late-ripening, therefore needing an abundance of sunlight and heat to fully ripen. It favors warm sites, but can still thrive in cooler sites like Coonawarra, Australia. 

Typical Structure

Typical Flavors

When Not Fully Ripe: green bell peppers or olives

When Young: blackberries, cassis, black cherries, boysenberry, blueberry, and chocolate

As It Ages: tobacco, truffle, cedar wood/spice, earth, lead pencil, and leather

The thickness of its skins allows the Cabernet Sauvignon grape to produce wines with a deep ruby color and many tannins – the drying and grippy sensations when sipping. Acidity is the antithesis of tannin, therefore making a full-bodied wine appear less so. Therefore, the naturally high acidity of this grape will help to balance that drying sensation, ensuring the wine tastes more approachable.

However, reaching symmetry may take time. 

When Cabernet Sauvignon is drunk young — soon after the wine has been made — it may taste overly bitter, with tannins that stick to your teeth, leaving little room for tasting other structural components, such as acidity.

With bottle-age, this wine will become more balanced on the palate, as the tannins will soften yet still remain apparent at the forefront of each sip. At this point, the acidity will be able to shine through more easily, equalizing the structural scale while promoting fruity flavors.

Another common winemaking technique to soften tannins is blending Cabernet Sauvignon with other red grapes such as Merlot. In addition to imparting complex flavors unique to Cabernet Sauvignon, this can allow for Cabernet-dominant blends to be more approachable and possibly able to be drunk sooner after bottling; though the majority of these blends can still age for years.

Common blending partners to Cabernet Sauvignon are Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot, and to a much lesser extent Carmenere. When one or more of these red grapes are combined with the “king grape,” the final wine will be considered a Bordeaux Blend.

Where Cabernet Sauvignon Grows

Haut-Medoc, France

Cabernet Sauvignon dominates blends of the Left Bank of Bordeaux, France, specifically in the Haut-Medoc, where it can produce long-lived wines that have grippy tannins and notes of cedar and black currant leaf when young. As it ages, the tannins become plush and the flavors become more expressive.

The Napa Valley AVA, California

This famous Valley produces Cabernet Sauvignon that is a bit more fruit forward than in Europe and typically has notes of black cherry, licorice, black pepper, and vanilla due to the oak aging.

The Columbia Valley AVA, Washington state

The Columbia Valley AVA is where 99% of all Washington state grapes are planted. It’s most famous grape is Cabernet Sauvignon, which produces wines with firm but plush tannins and notes of blackberry, cassis, licorice, eucalyptus, and green bell pepper as well as cedar spice and savoriness.

Coonawarra is one of the coolest sites in Australia that grows Cabernet Sauvignon, and its wines are more medium-bodied compared to hotter sites in the country. 

A typical wine profile is one with flavors of cassis, blackberry, plum, dark cherry, dark red berries, blackcurrant, mint, eucalyptus, and violets. Its tannins are firm but plush. The very best versions can age gracefully for decades.

Though Australia is known for being a warm-to-hot wine growing region, Coonawarra is considered to be cool, with moderate maritime influence. This area receives much sunlight like the rest of the continent, but the ocean breezes cool the otherwise warm region, keeping it at a consistent temperature. The Cabernet Sauvignon grape will therefore be able to hang on the vine for longer than its hotter counterparts, slowly developing its flavors and tannins.

The result is wines that are not as robust and grippy as those from warmer regions, like the ones listed above.

Additionally, its famous terra rossa soils, Italian for “red soil,” drain water well, ensuring vines must struggle to find some. This leads to wines that are complex, with great clarity and color. 

Coonawarra, Australia

Other Places Where It Grows

The Barossa Valley, Australia; Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand; Mendoza, Argentina; Tuscany; Chile

Common Winemaking Techniques

Cabernet Sauvignon wines are known to age favorably in the bottle for a long time prior to drinking. This reputation stems mostly from the structure — high tannins, acidity, and alcohol content — as well as from its potential to have complex flavors. This is much thanks to where and how the grapes are planted, but also how the wine is made.

Pre-fermentation Maceration - Helps to extract color before fermentation begins, which imparts more color and structure.

Fermentation Temperature Regulation - Ensures fermentation temperatures are warm enough to extract color and tannins, but cool enough to retain fruity flavors. Warm temperatures are also avoided toward the end of fermentation to not over extract tannins, which may otherwise result in a wine that is too grippy and unbalanced.

Post-fermentation Maceration - Ensures gentle extraction of tannins as opposed to warm temperatures that may over extract. This is completed once fermentation is complete, and is commonly executed by allowing the grapes to macerate in the tank before the juice is removed and moves to the next step of the winemaking process.

Barrel Aging - It’s high amount of tannins make it great for barrel aging. During this winemaking step, the tannins will soften, and tannins and flavors from the barrel will integrate themselves. This winemaking step is common with Cabernet Sauvignon and is done so after the juice has been removed from the tank post fermentation.