Selecting the correct wine glass when drinking Cabernet Sauvignon or any red wine which has cabernet as the predominant grape variety is very important.
Good Cabernet Sauvignon is a complex wine, starting from the selection of the vineyard site, the growing of the grapes, through to the making of the wine. A multitude of factors come into play for the vineyard manager and the winemaker, and making great cabernet sauvignon is arguably one of the most difficult red wines to consistently make well.
Cabernet Sauvignon is often considered to be the king of red wine grapes and it has formed the basis of most Bordeaux red wine blends for hundreds of years. In France Cabernet Sauvignon is rarely, if ever, bottled as a single grape variety. It is nearly always blended with smaller proportions of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Malbec, in order to give more structure and complexity to the finished Cabernet wine.
New world wine producers in contrast often produce wines solely from Cabernet Sauvignon – this is a frequently used practice in California, Australia, and South Africa. These new world wine producing regions will also create cabernet based blends incorporating merlot into the mix, and in cooler countries like New Zealand, you tend to find the bordeaux style blends being merlot dominant with less cabernet included.
To make a great Cabernet you need the right terroir, suitable warm temperature for producing ripe grapes, excellent conditions during harvest, older vines for growing the grapes, and then excellent wine making techniques. Once fermented, cabernet wines are normally aged in barrels for up to 18 months absorbing oak flavor that provides structure and complexity to the wine. Because cabernet grapes are fermented together with their skins, tannins exist in the final wine product that are quite harsh in young cabernet wines. The best cabernet wines are left age in the bottle for a few years prior to drinking, in order for the tannins to soften and become less dominant on the wine tasters palate.
Once you have found a great Cabernet it will be a wine to be savored together with food and it is essential that you use the correct cabernet glasses so that you can get the full experience the wine has to offer. A Cabernet glass designed specifically for the drinking of Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux style red wine blends, will hold and perfectly release all the bouquet and intense flavors that a cabernet has to offer.
With all the effort gone into producing a great Cabernet, the final act of consuming the wine should always be done with the perfect glass.
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