Cabernet Sauvignon: Red Wine Grape

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Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley. Cabernet Sauvignon became internationally recognized through its prominence in Bordeaux wines where it is often blended with other red grape varieties. From France where it originated, the grape spread across Europe and to the New World where it found new homes in places like California's Santa Cruz Mountains and New Zealand's Hawkes Bay. For most of the 20th century, it was the world's most widely planted premium red wine grape, although that accolade is now held by Merlot.
Cabernet …show more content…

Chili and Argentina in South America where the wines takes on a full bodied style with high levels of tannins with ripe dark fruit flavours, even taking on subtle chocolate flavours and subtle tobaco notes.
Cabernet Sauvignon is a very bold and assertive wine that has potential to overwhelm light and delicate dishes. The wine's high tannin content as well as the oak influences and high alcohol levels associated with many regional styles play important roles in influencing how well the wine matches with different foods. When Cabernet Sauvignon is young, all those elements are at their peak, but as the wine ages it mellows; possibilities for different food pairings open up. In most circumstances, matching the weight (alcohol level and body) of the wine to the heaviness of the food is an important …show more content…

When Cabernet Sauvignon is paired with steak or dishes with a heavy butter cream sauce, the tannins are neutralized, allowing the fruits of the wine to be more noticeable. In contrast, starches such as pastas and rice will have little effect on tannins. As the wine ages and the tannins lessen, more subtle and less bitter dishes will pair better with Cabernet Sauvignon. The oak influences of the wine can be matched with cooking methods that have similar influences on the food-such as grilling, smoking and plank roasting. Dishes that include oak-influenced flavors and aromas normally found in Cabernet Sauvignon uch as dill weed, brown sugar, nutmeg and vanilla can also pair

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