If the community of wine grapes in California were viewed as royalty, surely Chardonnay would be Queen. Merlot would be the older Prince, waiting to inherit the crown. Pinot Noir would be the younger Prince, full of mirth and vitality. Of course, Cabernet Sauvignon would be King. The King’s palace would be in the Napa Valley where he would sit on his Rutherford Bench throne and oversee a vast realm of more than 76,000 acres. He would exact a heavy toll for his richest commodity from the palace grounds ($3,500 - $4,500 a ton) to be used by only the most notable artisans and craftsmen in the kingdom.

The King would have a far-flung domain from sea to mountain. His summer palace would be in Sonoma, but his wealth would come from his vast holdings in the great valley. One of his border outposts would be at the foot of the mountains where his forces would, on occasion do battle with the old rebel, Sir Zinfandel. Being so far from the palace, the King was a bit out of his element in the foothills, but he was still a powerful force in the hinterlands. In the vast world of wine growing, Cabernet Sauvignon is indeed acknowledged as the king of the noble grapes. The offspring of Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc and a native of the Bordeaux region of France, Cabernet Sauvignon is the most widely planted and important grape of the five dominant varieties in the great wines of the Medoc. When we think fine Bordeaux, we are thinking Cabernet Sauvignon based wines. Cabernet Sauvignon is the most widely planted red grape variety in California. In 2006, some 12.1% of all grapes crushed in the state were Cabernet Sauvignon. The noble red grape was imported to California in 1852 by Antoine Delmas of San Jose. Almaden’s Charles LaFranc marketed the first commercial Cabernet blend as Cabernet-Malbec in the early 1860s. By the end of the 1880s, a number of California winemakers were offering Bordeaux-style blends featuring Cabernet Sauvignon.

Very few Cabernet vineyards survived Prohibition. Napa’s Beaulieu Vineyards had the largest portion of California’s 600 acres of Cabernet in 1960. By 1972, the state’s Cab vineyards had grown to 26,700 acres and between 1988 and 1999, the total Cabernet acreage in the Central Valley grew 200 percent.

While Napa Cabernet Sauvignon grew from 378 acres in 1961 to over 10,000 by the turn of the century, Sierra foothills Cab vineyards went from 3 acres to over 500 acres in same period. Today, even with over 550 acres of vines, foothills Cabernet Sauvignon accounts for less than one-tenth of one percent of all California Cab. The story is much different in the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys where over 20 percent of California Cabernet is grown.

While Cabernet Sauvignon can thrive in a variety of settings, the vines do best in moderately warm, semi-arid regions with long growing seasons. The grapes like well-drained but not-too-fertile soils and are quick to reflect their environment in the wines they produce.

Climates or years that are either too cool or too warm, soils that are too rich, sites with too little sun exposure, or harvesting the fruit before it is full mature will result in more vegetative, bell peppery, less fruity wines.

Cabernet Sauvignon berries are small and spherical with thick black skins that makes them resistant to disease and spoilage. It is the tannins in the thick skins and the high solids to juice ratio that give Cab its distinctive favors and reputation for longevity. Young Cabernet Sauvignons have distinguishing aromas and flavors of blueberry, blackberry, and black cherry with bouquet of oak and vanilla, while displaying a rough, tannic structure. But, it is the aging that makes Cabernet Sauvignon so unique. Properly stored for 5 to 10 years or more, aged Cabernets develop fullness unlike any other red wine. The intense fruitiness and rough texture evolve into rich, plush flavors and aromas of currant, cinnamon and nutmeg framed by bouquet of cedar, cigar box, earth and leather that finishes with a velvet touch. With all the decadence (rich, plush, velvet) associated with Cabernet Sauvignon is it any wonder “Cab is King”?