- I'm Patrick Cappiello
from Rebelle Restaurant in New York City. Today I'm going to tell you
everything you need to know about cabernet sauvignon. Cabernet sauvignon is
actually the offspring of two grapes that are
also commonly known: sauvignon blanc and cabernet franc. Two of those at some point
in time created what we know as a rich, full-bodied, dry red wine. Cabernet sauvignon is a
thick-skinned red grape that prefers a longer growing
season and a warmer climate. Traditionally coming from the
Bordeaux region in France, it's a lower-acid grape
that tends to produce wine with higher tannin structure. Cabernet sauvignon is one of
the most widely planted grapes in the world, and we find the grape in a myriad of wine regions. Two of my favorite regions are
the Napa Valley and Bordeaux. In the Napa Valley, I
especially love the wines from Cathy Corison. It tends to be more fruit-forward. It's rich and ripe in style. Still full-bodied and
great tannin structure. They're some of my favorite
cabernets in the world. And then there's Bordeaux. Without a doubt the best place
to have cabernet sauvignon. The wines from Bordeaux
are earthy, rich, powerful, age-worthy wines - truly spectacular. Chateau Margeaux, if you can afford it, is one of the best and brightest. The traditional glass is
known as a Bordeaux glass or a cabernet glass, but
it tends to be a thinner, taller red wine glass. The pinot noir glass,
or the burgundy glass, is a little bit more round and fat. The aromatics from cabernet tend to be very rich and powerful and I find if you put it
in a glass that's too wide it can almost overstimulate the aromatics. Cabernet when it's young
tends to have a very dense, rich purple color and
produces very viscous wine that clings to the glass. As it gets older the wine tends to turn a little bit more orange, and around the edges especially, you'll see kind of a more rusty color. The aromatics of cabernet sauvignon: black currant, black
raspberry, black cherry. Often the wines have more
earthy aromatics as well: leathery or barnyard-y kind of smells, which sounds bad but it's
actually pretty good. And then often with cabernet, especially those grown in France, you can smell things like nutmeg, cinnamon and other baking spices, which usually has to do with
the oak that they're using. Initially it's very much
about the tactile sensation. Tannin is the one thing
that you experience, especially when the cabernet is young. It's that feeling where
your lips kind of stick to your teeth - some rigid,
almost sandpaper like feelings. That's that skin of the
grape that's so thick that we spoke about, and
also the interaction with oak that gives the wine those tannins. Because of those tannins,
cabernet has great ageability. For the flavors we see very
much a lot of the mirroring of those fruit flavors and
those earthy flavors that we got when we were smelling the wines. Cabernet sauvignon is great
with a wide variety of foods, but I tend to like it best with meat. That tannin that we spoke
about, that really helps cut through the fattiness that you get from a rib-eye or a lamb chop. Any foods that are rich and dense tend to go really well with
wines that are rich and dense. For me cabernet sauvignon is one of the most exciting grapes. It's a wine that drinks
really well when it's young and it's also a wine that you can age. If you have a special
occasion like a birth or an anniversary, it's a good
bottle to buy and hang onto and drink it many years in the future. I'm Patrick Cappiello from playboy.com.
