page_title: Cabernet Sauvignon
section_title: Other Old World producers
hierarchical_section_title: Cabernet Sauvignon / Wine regions / Other Old World producers
caption_attribution_description: Mature Tempranillo grape cluster with characteristic blue-black color
context_page_description: Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley. Cabernet Sauvignon became internationally recognized through its prominence in Bordeaux wines where it is often blended with Merlot and Cabernet Franc. From France and Spain, the grape spread across Europe and to the New World where it found new homes in places like California's Santa Cruz Mountains, Paso Robles, Napa Valley, New Zealand's Hawkes Bay, South Africa's Stellenbosch region, Australia's Margaret River and Coonawarra regions, and Chile's Maipo Valley and Colchagua. For most of the 20th century, it was the world's most widely planted premium red wine grape until it was surpassed by Merlot in the 1990s.
  However, by 2015, Cabernet Sauvignon had once again become the most widely planted wine grape, with a total of 341,000 hectares under vine worldwide.
context_section_description: The introduction of Cabernet Sauvignon to Spain occurred in the Rioja region when the Marqués de Riscal planted cuttings from Bordeaux in the nineteenth century. It was not until the 1960s, however, before cultivation took off. By 2015, it was the sixth most widely planted red wine grape in Spain. Today it is permitted in about half of the Spanish DOPs (Denominación de Origen Protegida). The grape is most prominent in the Catalan wine region of Penedès, where its use was revived by the estates of Bodegas Torres and Jean León. There the grape is often blended with Tempranillo. It is also primarily a blending grape in the Ribera del Duero, but producers in Navarra have found some international acclaim for their varietal wines.
  In the United Kingdom, English wine producers have experimented with growing the variety in plastic tunnels which can create a greenhouse effect and protect the grapes from the less than ideal climate of the wine region. While the grape is permitted to be planted in some German wine regions (such as the Mosel), the vineyard sites best suited for ripening Cabernet are generally already occupied with Riesling; many producers are ill-inclined to uproot the popular German variety in favor of Cabernet Sauvignon. In the 1980s, inexpensive Bulgarian Cabernet Sauvignon was highly touted for its value and helped to establish that country's wine industry and garner it more international presence in the wine market. The grape is performing a similar function for many countries in Central Europe, including Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, and Eastern Europe, including Moldova, Romania, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria and Ukraine. It can be in the eastern Mediterranean wine regions of Cyprus, Greece, Israel and Lebanon.
caption: In Spain, Cabernet Sauvignon is often blended with Tempranillo.(pictured)
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