Cabernet Sauvignon, the small-berried, big-tannin and immensely fruited red grape, achieved its status over two centuries as the world’s most planted and most celebrated variety by its ability to create wines of unrivalled structure, presence and authority. Quite simply, Cabernet Sauvignon is the most revered red grape responsible for making the widest diversity of great wines on planet Earth.
This reputation has its roots in the Bordeaux region of France, Cabernet Sauvignon’s ancestral home where it evolved as a crossing between the red Cabernet Franc and the white Sauvignon Blanc, both varieties at home in this famed part of south-western France. In the 19th century, when Europe and the rest of the world began taking a serious interest in the quality, diversity and places of origin of wine, Bordeaux established itself as the holy grail (Burgundy followed later).
In 1855, the wine cognoscenti of Bordeaux penned its quality classification – and the world sat up and took notice. Thus began the global pursuit of First Growth Bordeaux labels such as Haut-Brion, Château Lafite, Margaux and Latour, and scores of other wines from this region judged as having a grandiose stature.
The fact that the First Growth and many other Bordeaux wines all contain a component of the Cabernet Sauvignon grape had a profound influence on the succeeding vinous compilations of many other countries. If Cabernet Sauvignon drives a major part of the status, quality and success of Bordeaux, surely other wine-producing nations can benefit from rooting these Cabernet Sauvignon vines in their soils.
And so today, Cabernet Sauvignon is the basis of many a fine wine, from the Coonawarra Valley and Margaret River of Australia to Chile’s Maipo Valley and the Napa Valley in California. Making great Cabernet Sauvignon has done wonders for a wine country’s reputation and image; a land able to deliver fine Cabernet Sauvignon must, in general, be perceived to be a good wine country.
South Africa has been part of the global Cabernet Sauvignon conversation since the 1960s and ’70s, when estates were beginning to produce their own wines instead of selling their grapes and nondescript wines to corporate liquor behemoths and co-operative cellars. And although a few Cabernet Sauvignons from other Cape regions – notably Paarl – have attracted a glimpse of recognition, it is Stellenbosch that rules Cabernet Sauvignon’s roost.
I would go as far as to say that when prodded for advice from an international wine-lover wishing to discover the best of South Africa, my first tip is to look for the words ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ and ‘Stellenbosch’ on the label. I can’t think of a better introduction to South African excellence and the country’s commitment to classic elegance in wine.
Deidre Taylor, chairperson of the Stellenbosch Cabernet Collective, a forward-thinking and proactive body of producers that promotes the diverse merits and charms of the region’s Cabernet Sauvignon, reckons the variety is as synonymous with Stellenbosch as are oak trees, gabled houses and coffee shops packed with philosophising academics.
“Cabernet Sauvignon is often the star player in some of the world’s most popular and celebrated wines, and the Cabernet Collective must ensure Stellenbosch is part of that universe,” says Deidre, who is also the marketing director of Meerlust Estate, a producer of one of the country’s best examples of Cabernet Sauvignon.
With about 8 750ha of Cabernet Sauvignon planted in South Africa, Stellenbosch is the region with the most acreage under this variety, coming in at 2 292ha. Stellenbosch farmers have been planting Cabernet Sauvignon commercially since the late 1950s, but the true growth of Cabernet plantings really developed throughout the 1980s and ’90s. With the Wine of Origin system coming into being in 1973, varieties and regions started appearing on labels of wines grown, made and bottled on the estate.
“With Stellenbosch producers breaking away from the co-operative system, and many taking the visionary approach of creating their own brands, producers began experimenting and evaluating which varieties worked well on their farms taking soil, site, climate, and so on into consideration. Cabernet Sauvignon was a variety that worked on many farms throughout the Stellenbosch area, with the bonus of the grape having a greater cachet at the premium end of the spectrum than a variety such as Cinsaut, which dominated the country’s red wine offering until 35 years ago.”
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