Generally, 5 to 10 years of bottle aging are required for it to reach peak flavor, so say the French but for today’s California Cabs I would say most (including ours) are at their best between 1-3 years after bottling. It prefers a slightly warmer climate than most wine grapes and can be injured by late Spring frosts and again by early Fall frosts. Because California tends to get cooler growing areas than France, California cabernets tend to be more delicate and fruitier. Cabernet Sauvignon is also known as Petit Cabernet, Vidure and Petit Vidure; and recent genetic research indicates that it descends from the unexpected parents of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc.

Cabernet Sauvignon is known world wide as the King of Reds (red wine) and rightfully and arguably so unless of course you disagree. Way back when in the 1970s Cabernet Sauvignon made our first short list of three varieties that we began to plant here in El Dorado’s Fair Play region – the other two were Chardonnay and Zinfandel. The clones we planted were UCDavis Dr. Olmo’s best plus cuttings from El Dorado’s Stonebarn Vineyard and Boeger’s home vineyard too. The multiplicity of clones was an attempt to build complexity in the wine. When we re-established our winery in its present location, just three miles higher up Fair Play Road in the late 1980s we propagated cuttings from our original vineyards.

Notice I haven’t said a word about awards. Rest assured our Cabs have won their fair share of awards from 1980 on forward. We’ve scaled way back on entering competitions but the two we entered in 2009 garnered a Silver and a Bronze for our 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon.