Let’s compare Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa, Chile and Bordeaux.
Cabernet Sauvignon: Wine’s Globe Trotter
Cabernet Sauvignon is the most planted and widely distributed wine grape variety across the planet. It adapts and does well in many places. It is also the most produced grape in my current home Chile and California, where I grew up. It is not the most planted in France, its original home and my adopted home by marriage, but it’s definitely an important variety there, especially on the Left Bank of Bordeaux where it is usually the majority of the blend.
If you’ve checked out this blog before, you know I like to explore lesser-known regions and varieties, so I haven’t been giving much love to Cabernet Sauvignon recently. However, I still enjoy drinking it and have several bottles of Cabernet or Cabernet based Bordeaux blends in my cellar. They are wines that can age well, so I tend to save them for guests and red meat dishes more than as an everyday wine. In fact, I’ll probably do a similar comparison of aged Cabernet from different places at some point.
Are there major differences between Cabernet based Bordeaux, Chilean Cabernet and Napa Cabernet?
Although a lot will depend on the producer, vintage, terroir, price point and trends, Bordeaux represents the more elegant, leaner, terroir-driven and fresher end of the spectrum while Napa tends to be more modern, bigger, riper, fruit-driven and oakier version on the other end of the spectrum. Napa has elegance texturely through its round body from higher alcohol/ripeness and oak while traditional Bordeaux might feel more tannic at a young age but is elegant in terms of its lighter weight and restraint.
Of course there was the Parkerization of wine all over the world from the 90’s and 2000’s that pushed these 3 regions among many to make more modern, homogenous, international styled wines and move away from the overly austere wines of Bordeaux in the 70’s which allowed California to emerge with its naturally sunnier, riper wines. California wine pushed Bordeaux to follow suit with changes in their approach. However, California didn’t fully maximize its ripe modernization until the 90’s. For example, I’ve tasted California wines from the 70’s and 80’s with more restraint than current Bordeaux or Bordeaux during the peak of Parker. I’ve had similar experiences with Chilean wines from the 80’s vs. Chilean wines from the 90’s and early 2000’s, so Parker definitely had an influence.
However, the trend has shifted again to what some describe as the ‘new modern classic’–sort of in between modern and traditional. Nowadays in Bordeaux, this means making wines that are more accessible young by improving phenolic management. In other words, they have tannic structure but the tannins are softer, riper, and rounder while keeping the elegance and freshness of traditional Bordeaux. Moreover, many modern New World producers are following the same trend towards the middle of the spectrum showing more restraint and acidity instead of overt ripeness, oak and extraction.
Besides these consumer trends of not wanting to wait to drink their wine and drinking more balanced wines, global warming is also playing a role in making Old World Cabernet taste fruitier. However, the general distinction if you compare Bordeaux to California during the same epochs of winemaking has always been that Napa will generally be fruitier and riper than Cabernet based Bordeaux because Bordeaux is still cooler and less sunny than California. If anything, it is Right Bank Merlot based Bordeaux which is closer to Napa than Left Bank Cabernet dominated Bordeaux because Merlot more consistently shows the ripeness of fruit that California can achieve annually with Cab.
Chile has typically fit in between California and France stylistically. Most commercial Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon will have more fruit than Bordeaux but more freshness than Napa. It has the sunny Mediterranean climate of California, but cooler nights due to being such a skinny country and thus closer proximity to the ocean and mountains anywhere in the country. However, a distinguishing factor for blind tasters is Chilean Cabernet and Carmenere tend to have more pyrazine notes, which can express itself as raw green pepper on one end to herbal, eucalyptus, minty, earthy flavors on the other end, depending on the ripeness. If it’s towards the latter, it adds complexity to the wine that many drinkers want, but for others it stands out negatively if you prefer more fruit and oak.
Despite historically having a cooler climate in Bordeaux, pyrazine is something they have tried to manage since Parker even through chaptalization (adding sugar), which is not allowed in Chile. With global warming, it’s less necessary to add sugar in Bordeaux these days. Rather, some producers have had to add acidity to keep the style of wine they want after increasingly hot summers. Average Chilean Cabernets don’t hide the pyrazine notes, but they’re rarely as green as pre-global warming influenced, vegetal Cabernet Franc from the Loire Valley, for example. Again, it really depends on the producer and their winemaking choices. Plus, vintage matters especially for Bordeaux while Chile and California tend to be more consistent in style.
Ultimately, it will depend on your personal palate and food pairing which you’d prefer. It will also depend on your budget since Napa will almost always cost at least $40-50 while a similar quality Bordeaux might be half that and some Chilean Cabs are half the price of similar quality Bordeaux. I made the decision easy by opening a bottle each of them to compare with friends.
Tasting Notes
2017 Radio Silence Cabernet Sauvignon Napa
This is an NDA wine from the Napa-based store Wine Access. I explained what this means in a prior post about California Cab, but basically it’s a wine sourced from a high-end producer that they don’t want to sell under their own label to maintain low supply and higher prices. Therefore, they sell it to someone else who makes their own label and agrees not to specify the name of the original source. However, Wine Access usually gives you clues where it is from. As an NDA wine from Stags Leap, at first I thought they were talking about Shafer, but it’s probably Realm because one of the quotes they gave about one of their wines can be easily found by googling it. Since Realm produces wines from several vineyard sites, I didn’t consider them, but their estate is actually in Stags Leap up on Wappo Hill where they produce their Moonracer cuvee and is right next to Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, who produced the Cabernet that won the 1976 Judgement of Paris, which put California back on the wine map. Instead of the $300 price tag for Realm’s Moonracer, this only costs $45.
79% Cabernet Sauvignon with 7% Petite Sirah, 7% Charbono (Bonarda), 4% Zinfandel, 2% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot; 25% new oak for 24 months. Chocolatey oak notes and ripe fruit on the nose. The ripest of the 3. Same on the palate. It’s the ripest. Some heat from alcohol but it also gives it the most body and roundness of all the wines. Richest of all the wines so far. Darkest with some dried plum, med-low acid but it doesn’t lack freshness. In fact, there’s some minerality and Stags Leap is traditionally cooler among the Napa floor districts. Licorice. About the same tannic feel as the Bordeaux but it softens faster. Some spiciness. Medium-full body. The alcohol becomes less sharp over time and could be mitigated serving it at cellar temperature. Stylistically, this is middle-of-the-road Napa. It’s not pushing the fruit to its limit but it’s super-generous too. The favorite of the night among other tasters. 93
2018 Casa Silva S38 Single Block Los Lingues Cabernet Sauvignon Colchagua
This usually goes for around $25 in Chile, so that makes it more of a premium level wine. Casa Silva is a mid-level commercial producer and has a middle of the road style. 80% aged in French oak barrels for 12 months but they don’t specify how much was new. Definitely more ripe fruit than the Bordeaux but less ripe than the Napa, with some typical Chilean herbal, eucalyptus notes and milder oak notes than the Bordeaux. Less tannic than the other two. Cassis. Some dark cherry fruit too. Some menthol. I like this because it manages to be between the Napa and Bordeaux in terms of ripeness. There’s less oak and tannin, higher acid. You just have to appreciate the pyrazine aspects of Central Valley Chilean Cabernet and Carmenere, but it’s less prominent with this wine compared to other reds from the region. Plus 2018 was a great, balanced vintage in Chile. 92
2018 Lilian Ladouys St. Estephe
I bought this for $25 en primeur, but it’s probably around $30 now. 59% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, and 4% Petit Verdot aged in 35% new oak. Nose is sweet, spicy oak driven with some red and dark berry fruit. Nice elegant feel with a medium+ body. It’s the least heavy of the 3 wines. Medium acid. Still tannic without food but approachable with food. The nose integrates well over time and more fruit comes out overall but the tannins still remain without food. Others may prefer to age it longer for that reason, and it should age at least 10+ more years. Relative to the other wines, it wasn’t as generous at the moment, but it’s partly an Old World v. New World difference too although this producer and vintage are relatively more modern in Bordeaux. It’s typically for the best bargains among the top appellations of Bordeaux like St. Estephe. I’ve had this label at 10 years of age and enjoyed it more. 90+
Conclusion
Overall, I’m usually a Bordeaux fan over Napa, but it’s still the case that Bordeaux may need time to improve while these Napa and Chilean Cabs are more forthcoming right away. At the same time, both New World wines were relatively restrained compared to some of their neighbors. The Napa would probably be priced a lot higher if it had the label of its original producer, so it should be better given the price while Chile usually makes the best bargain wine in most categories of wines, especially Cabernet. Whenever you watch Youtube wine vloggers blind tasting cheap wines, the Chilean one typically gets the highest score. All three represent value Cabernet for their price points and regions.