Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon is the structured one: blackcurrant, cedar, pencil lead, and a firm tannic frame that holds a rich meal together and lets a bottle age for twenty years. If Merlot is the cushion, Cabernet is the spine.

In Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon is spelled “Médoc”

A New World label prints the grape on the front. A Bordeaux label prints the commune instead — and the commune tells you far more, because it tells you the soil. Cabernet Sauvignon’s classical home is the deep gravel of Bordeaux’s Left Bank, where it ripens late and slowly. Nowhere on this page will you see the words Cabernet Sauvignon on a bottle. You will see these names instead:

• Saint-Julien: the balanced middle of the Médoc — Château Talbot, Château Gloria, Château Branaire-Ducru, Château Langoa Barton, Les Fiefs de Lagrange.
• Pauillac & Saint-Estèphe: the firmest, longest-lived expression — Réserve de la Comtesse (Pichon Comtesse de Lalande), Lacoste-Borie (Grand-Puy-Lacoste), Château Haut-Marbuzet, La Dame de Montrose, Les Pélerins de Lafon-Rochet.
• Haut-Médoc, Moulis & Margaux: the value ground — Château La Lagune, Château Sociando-Mallet, Château Chasse-Spleen (Moulis), Bel Air de Siran (Margaux).
• Pessac-Léognan: gravel, smoke and graphite, just south of the city — La Chapelle de La Mission Haut-Brion, Château de Fieuzal.

One thing nobody tells beginners

Cabernet Sauvignon is almost never alone in Bordeaux. It is blended — usually with Merlot, often with Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot — because the blend is the point: Cabernet brings structure and Merlot brings flesh. That is why many of these wines appear on our Merlot page too, and why a “Cabernet” from Bordeaux tastes nothing like a varietal Cabernet from elsewhere.

Free delivery on 6 bottles or more, anywhere in Singapore. See also all our Bordeaux.