The Cabernet Camps

[Rebel Rose]

Cabernet and Bordeaux blends, whether produced in France, the US, or elsewhere, are often considered the epitome of enological classicism. (Some would argue that Burgundies are the truest, most delicate expression of terroir and the vintner's art, but we'll get to them later . . .)

What do you look for in a cabernet sauvignon or cab blend? Conservative flavors of cherry, cassis, leather and pencil lead? A little herb? Some earthiness or steel?

Personally, I am bored by wines--even expensive, sought after wines--with the conservative profile. Makes me think of grandma's cherry pie while doing homework--pretty tame. I like cabernets that have something just a little exotic and dangerous about them.

In fact, one day after reading the Wine Spectator cab scores I thought to myself, "they all sound like cherry pie." Then I thought, "why should cherry pie be that boring?" So I made a cherry pie inspired by my love of spicy cabs--a pie with a Parmesan and black pepper crust. Now that's a good pie!

Because I'm ITB, I won't list individual producers that I like or don't like, but I encourage you to give examples of your favorites or disappointments. What's your style? Maybe the classic profile is a truer expression of the cabernet/terroir relationship. But what if a California cab could be so much more? Different, and maybe better grown in California, or Washington, or Uruguay?

(Disclosure: we do not produce a lot of cabernet, so I am asking this as an individual, and perhaps as a woman. My taste, and our production, runs more to zins and Rhones.)

[jsolomon]

Sadly(?) I do look somewhat for the conservative flavors in my Cabernet and Bordeaux.

I /like/ the flavors of leather, pencil lead, and steel in my deep reds. I drink those when I want a bedrock wine. Something solid and broad-shouldered. Kind of like Atlas in a glass. I also like a hint of unsweetened cocoa in mine. The flavor of daisy in the background is also somewhat nice. A little pine resin can please, too.

The things that I don't really appreciate are red wines that roll over my tongue like an oak compound butter, or even a dark berry compound butter.

I guess, if I were to really go for visual imagery, I would like my Cabernet or Bordeaux blends to taste more like Hercules if he had been turned to stone by a gorgon than the oak board of education at a boarding school after paddling a bunch of food fighters from breakfast.

[mike volker]

We recently opened a bottle of '00 Chateau Margene (Paso Robles) that thrilled me more than any cab or blend that I've had recently. I'm not very good with the descriptors, but this had a real zip to it that you just don't get with most cabs.

Best,

Mike

[melkor]

The older and crustier I get, the more I prefer Bordeaux to new world Cabernet. I've grown tired of too much oak, too much fruit, and have been looking for balance and elegance in the wines that I drink.

[Rebel Rose]

I /like/ the flavors of leather, pencil lead, and steel in my deep reds.  I drink those when I want a bedrock wine.  Something solid and broad-shouldered.  Kind of like Atlas in a glass.  I also like a hint of unsweetened cocoa in mine.  The flavor of daisy in the background is also somewhat nice. 

Wow.

[Brad Ballinger]

I love cherry pie, and I make a mean one using fresh tart cherries, gobs of vanilla (as is customary in old-fashioned cherry pie), and tapioca. But I don't like cherry pie in my wine.

I do like a good cassis core with leather, some type of mineral funk, a bit of menthol (depending on the region of origin). Sometimes a bit of spice. Sometimes a bit of cigar box/tobacco. Mainly I want complexity and dimension from the flavors, the tannin, and the acid.

[Daryl Goh]

For me, good Cab wines have their place at the dinner table. That compelling combination of acidity and tannin refreshes the palate effortlessly during the meal, and the fruit character should at once be restrained yet defined, with a mineral complexity to excite the senses. Of course, I'm talking about the more classic style.

In the past week, most notably I've had Vinedo Chadwick 1999 from Chile, Ducru Beaucaillou 1996 and Martha's Vineyard 1997, the last two at the same meal. Chilean Cab blends can have a rather aggressive fruit profile, yet the Chadwick showed delightful restraint and integration, whilst still showing Chile's bright, pure fruit.

Whilst the Ducru has all the hallmarks of 1996, fragrance, accessibility and a fine taught acidity allied with beautifully textured tannins, it was eclipsed by the Martha's Vineyard 1997. Despite double decanting this remained closed for much of the evening, until it suddenly blossomed into a multi-dimensional wine, showing layers of complexity.

No matter how classic a wine is, if one is able to observe and enjoy its development during the course of an evening, can it really be boring?

[jrufusj]

What do I like in cabernet?

First, it might help to look at what my favorite cabernets are.

I love cab franc (and cab franc with dollops of cab sauv) from the Loire – Chinon, Bourgueil, St. Nicholas de Bourgueil.

Graves is probably my favorite region of Bordeaux. In general, I prefer leaner wines from Bordeaux and often prefer slightly lesser vintages for drinking with food. As a gross generalization, I tend to prefer left bank to right bank wines (though I dearly love VCC).

Favorite Calcabs over the years have included Shafer SLD, Cain Five, Dunn (though all based on promise, as I’ve never waited long enough for a Dunn really to come around), Clos du Val, various Pine Ridge bottlings, Ridge Monte Bello, Montelena Estate, some Dominus/Napanook. Most of this experience is a little dated, as I’ve not had too many Calcabs from vintages later than 1990 or so.

From Australia, I’ve really enjoyed Parker Estate First Growth (Coonawarra) and Moss Wood (Margaret River).

The Loire wines tend to show a brighter, but less overt, fruit presence and are heavy on the herb and mineral front.

Graves, of course, has a significant element of earthiness and minerality.

The Calcabs are all over the map, but many of them come from mountain fruit which, though often very intense and large in size, seems to have an element of punch and locality that is missing from similarly sized valley floor cabs. The floor cabs I have favored all share, I believe, a level of detail and/or restraint not found in many bigger and more acclaimed wines. (Though I’ve heard many reports that the Shafer wines have moved progressively closer to going over the top.)

The Coonawarra wine had an earthy Coonawarra element that reminded me a bit of a very ripe Graves. The Margaret River wine had a level of detail and restraint to the fruit that appealed to me. It performed very, very well lined up next to a Ducru.

Some of these wines are riper/fruitier and some are more mineral/earth/herb driven, but I believe all of them share a certain level of restraint and particularity of place that appeals. They also, to greater or lesser degrees, have acid as an important part of their balance.

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but I think that is what appeals – terroir, restraint, some mineral/earth/herb element, and reasonably good acidity – no matter what the style/ripeness level. And I want to be able to enjoy it with food.

Jim

[KatieLoeb]

For me it's about deep dark fruits (black cherry, plum, cassis, blackberry) with cocoa, cedar, and a lighter (but still present) component of "earthiness". I like very subtle hints of herbal notes like licorice or mint, a recognizable but not overwhelming dose of pencil lead and really love the occasional floral note in the background of violets. Silky tannins and balanced acidity crucial to my enjoyment of the wine. Alcohol content doesn't matter if the balance is there. It can be anywhere from 12.5%-15% alcohol as long as all the previously mentioned bases have been hit. A big honking rare to med-rare steak is the perfect thing to have with it.

The 2001 Lancaster Estate Alexander Valley Red is a pretty good example of what I find to be a very sexy and delicious (mostly) Cabernet. I'm a big fan of winemaker David Ramey (who also makes his own spectacular wines under his own label) who assisted with production of this wine.

[CtznCane]

I'm not as big a Cab Sauv fan as I am of the Bordeaux blends and Cab Franc for that matter. I tend to favor cassis, leather and tobacco flavors and am much less fond of the herbaceous Cabs o the whole. To my own taste, it is the balance, depth, and elegance that I look for in a Cab or Bordeaux blend.

In straight Cab Sauv I tend to like ones from Alexander Valley the best. To my taste those have a richness of character that I enjoy.

I've found Bordeaux style blends that I enjoy from many regions in California. A couple recent ones I've enjoyed is Koehler's 'Magia Nera' and Thomas Coyne's 'Confluence'.

As a side note, I think (and I'm speaking in terms of California wine) that for too many years wineries produced and focused on Cab Sauv when a blend would have been better. Unfortunately the public had an association to 'Cab Sauv' while a blended wine, without that grape classification had a tougher road to acceptance.

[MaxH]

What do you look for in a cabernet sauvignon or cab blend?

When I got interested in fine wines I found that what Bordeaux-type wines were really "about" was what they developed into when properly aged. Most of them were made with that in mind. Luckily then (30 years ago) there was no shortage of serious wine enthusiasts in my region (SF bay area) or wines on the market (including wines with bottle age -- later retailing trends hadn't yet taken hold, you'd routinely find 10-plus-year-old Bordeaux still on the market). I was able to experience (especially through enthusiasts' cellars) mature-Cabernet characters -- chocolate, coffee, delicate herbs; minty and other scents. Those are what I like. Some of the serious California cabs, especially, had phenomenal potential for development. It became a habit to taste the younger cab-type wines with an eye to where they were aimed, what they might become. People new to wine who complained that they did not want to wait for wines to age, or that they didn't have easy access to good mature wines, forgot such arguments after experiencing what good mature wines were about.

(That was also before some of the later style trends, and the push for making wines to be drunk young. Also before I got distracted from Bordeaux-type wines by Burgundies. Though unlike some people I know, I still enjoy the former.)