|
|
|
| Current Article | Previous Articles | Search Articles | Search Offers | Search Tasting Notes | Forum |
|
|
|
|
| Current Article | Previous Articles | Search Articles | Search Offers | Search Tasting Notes | Forum |
Along with Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon is the best known grape in the world and is planted in practically every country that produces wine and in the majority of wine regions. It’s a thick-skinned, fairly small grape and since most of the colouring and textural agents in grapes are in the skins, Cabernet wines are usually dark in colour and have good tannic structure. The grape ripens late and so in the past has had trouble ripening completely in more moderate climates, such as France. Unripe Cabernet is hard and chewy and tastes greenish and unripe, rather like chewing grape skins. Because of this, winemakers across the world tended to blend it with another grape that had a little more soft ripeness, to pad out its jagged edges, such as Merlot or Shiraz.
However, these jagged edges have an important role to play. Tannin is the most important factor in a wine’s ability to age and as tannic wines do age, especially if they do it in barrel, the tannin molecules slowly clump together and fall as deposit, leaving a smoother more easily enjoyable wine that outlives other less tannic wines. Nowadays, this isn’t necessary as modern work in the vineyard means that grapes are being picked riper all over the world and a glass of 100% Cabernet is no longer a grimacing matter. There is also a process called Micro-Oxygenation, which as the name suggests, pumps a tiny amount of oxygen through the tank and makes the tannin molecules clump together at speed. This means that you can enjoy smooth red wine without all the bother of barrels and decades of cellar ageing.
Our favourite Chilean Cabernet was Peñalolen 2004, which is £6.99 from Oddbins, or £5.59 if you buy 6 bottles. It smelt attractively herbal, with some coffee, eucalyptus, green pepper and blackcurrant, which is as obvious a Cabernet smell as you’ll find. It tasted slightly of chocolate and coffee but absolutely wasn’t sweet. It had fresh acidity and Lorraine sensed something like Marmite at the end.
Casillero del Diablo Cabernet 2005 is £5.98 from Tesco and Asda and £5.99 from Sainsbury. Casillero del Diablo wines really do deliver again and again. The Cabernet smelt of ripe blackcurrant with a touch of oak. It the mouth it was obviously Cabernet, but with ripe fruit padding the structure nicely. There was sweet vanilla oak on the finish.
Our third favourite was Veramonte 2003, which is £6.99 from Somerfield, reduced to £5.59 until 27th March. It smelt of sweet vanilla, blackcurrant and liquorice, rather like the soft-centred boiled sweets. Although the taste was initially quite sweet, the finish was dry and smooth.
Pirque Estate from M&S smelt nicely of blackcurrant leaf, but was rather sweet in the mouth. The Co-op’s Chilean Reserve was perfectly pleasant but rather lightweight. Errazuriz Estate smelt of sweet vanilla and tasted very sweetly of coffee. Isla Negra had an attractive herbal and caramel smell but it faded over half an hour. The taste wasn’t unpleasant, but was pretty simple. Our least favourite was Montes Oak Aged Reserve, which was the most expensive. The smell was quite attractively like Carmenere but it was astringent in the mouth, with excessive alcohol for the depth of flavour.