How to Choose a Cabernet

Follow these general rules to ease the difficulty of choosing the right cabernet sauvignon.

Things You'll Need

• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Wine Glasses

Instructions

1. Base your cabernet purchase on a relationship between quality, price and value.

2. Determine the style of cabernet you like most. Where a wine comes from is probably the most important factor in what it will be like, so look for the country of origin on the bottle.

3. Understand that the two largest regions producing cabernet today are California and France. Cabernets from France tend to express less of the fruity characteristics of the grape, but seek a balance between the non-fruit and fruit aspects. California cabernets tend to emphasize the fruit first.

4. Realize that weather is a big reason for stylistic differences. Grapes have a difficult time ripening during any season in Bordeaux, which is France's major cabernet-producing region. On the other hand, California rarely sees a season where grapes don't fully ripen. Fully ripe grapes yield more fruity characteristics than do less ripe grapes.

5. Learn to look for sub-regions and producers as well as general regions. For example, "California" on a wine label is the lowest designation a wine can have. There are many good cabernets in this category, but very few great ones. If a wine lists a sub-region, such as "North Coast" or "Central Coast," the quality should be slightly higher, with a truer cabernet profile. If a wine lists a specific region, such as "Napa County," "Howell Mountain" or "Stags' Leap," on the front label, the quality should be higher still. If a wine lists a specific vineyard or circumstance, such as "Morisoli Vineyard" or "Microclimate 3," on the front label, the wine should be of the highest quality and probably will have a correspondingly high price.

Tips & Warnings

• French wines are generally thought of as better partners to food than are California wines. Some people think California wines are better enjoyed on their own rather than with food. You can be the judge of that.

• Australia, Italy and Chile are all making incredible examples of Cabernet, but not at the volume that California and France do.