Cab Sauv is the most widely grown wine grape in the world and is mostly grown in France, Chile, USA & Australia, Spain. Cab Sauv LOVES a hot climate. It's a thick-skinned grape which makes a big meaty, tannic, flavourful, higher alcohol wine. A great wine to age if that's your thing as these wines will keep beautifully for a decade and then a decade more.
Originally From Bordeaux, there isn’t a lot of pure Cabernet Sauvignon here in New Zealand, the climate works against us so we tend to blend Cab with other things (Merlot mostly)
There are undoubtedly some great NZ Cab Sauvs mostly from the Hawkes Bay but I think personally that some of the best New World examples are from Australia & California.
Robert Mondavi was a very interesting character born in US to Italian parents he founded his own winery in 1966 in his 50's. He was a pioneer of the New World wine industry and was credited for establishing the California wine industry and really putting California wines on the world stage at a time when New World was seen as the poor cousin of wine. We have a lot to thank him for here in NZ! This gorgeous Robert Mondavi Private Selection 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon is deep ruby in colour but medium bodied with soft tannins. It smells of black cherries & blackberries and is a really approachable Cabernet Sauvignon. Also, you can get this wine in the supermarket for only $18 so a great one to try if you want to give Cab Sauv a try!
Angus The Bull 2104 is a bit of a go-to Cab Sauv for me as this is a wine that is made for meat - literally. Winemaker Hamish McGowen worked on a cattle ranch before becoming a winemaker so knew everything there was to know about beef, so when he starting making wine and couldn't find a wine to live up to the standard he wanted to go with his steak - he just went ahead and made his own! Made from Victorian grapes Angus The Bull is almost purple in colour & with flavours of ripe black fruits & oak. This wine is not messing around!
This wine also comes with one hell of a backstory Hamish is the eldest of three boys and when his little brother was born he was a whopping 10lb 11oz (4.8kg) and named Angus so the nurses promptly named him Angus The Bull and hung a sign on his crib to that effect! Angus the Bull was born & lives on in a Cab Sauv you can get for $25
Ok, excuse me while I weep into my wine but this Villa Maria – Reserve Gimblett Gravels 2007 is so beautiful and so special it deserves the shedding of a tear or two. This has only just been released and it's rare to find a 100% Cab Sauv in New Zealand but rarer still to find a ten year at this price. $63 might seem like a lot but it really isn't for a wine of this calibre. This wine smells like a combo of ripe blackcurrants and even coffee, the taste is so fine yet quite powerful and it's a wine that, cellared correctly will keep for another 10 years at least. This is the kind of wine you would buy now to share with your son or daughter who was born in 2007 to share with them on their 21st birthday.