Cabernet Sauvignon Smackdown

In an office cluttered with wine bottles, both full and empty, it’s hard not to think of myself as Mayor of Boozeville.  Every once in a while, an editor will stroll in and talk shop. Someone else will poke in to pour themselves a glass or two. Other than those few moments, it’s just me and the wine for hours and hours.  It’s a lovely job writing wine reviews but also a bit solitary: a drunken cage of corks, so to speak.

Today, there are more empty Cabernet bottles than anything else on my desk, and that is an excellent thing.  A mentor of mine once told me that the best way to learn about wine was to pick a grape and dive in. That’s what I have done.

I have been drinking nothing but Cabernet Sauvignon from across the world: from Tuscany to Bordeaux to Napa Valley to South Africa. They all tasted dramatically different, yet each retained a “cab-ishness” quality. 

One of the most important things I remember from wine school was that each grape varietal has a unique fingerprint. For Cabernet Sauvignon, that fingerprint is an aroma of pencil shavings and green pepper. Sounds gross, but that’s the funny thing about great wine:  it unites crazy smells and flavor in surprisingly delicious ways.

You can check out our cabernet wine reviews here.