Cabernet Sauvignon has small berries with thick skins. Red wine flavours come substantially from the skins where the colour, tannins and flavours build up. Hence, Cabernet Sauvignon readily produces deep coloured tannic full flavoured reds. The inky plummy berry flavour can be too intense and its tannins too astringent and overwhelming. As a result in many areas, Cabernet is blended with grapes which soften it. In Bordeaux, Merlot and Cabernet Franc are used as well as small quantities of an obscure grape called Petit Verdot. The Bordeaux region is bisected by the river Gironde and its estuary. The left bank (western) side is called Medoc and Cabernet Sauvignon is the dominant grape. Famous wines such as Chateau Margaux, Chateaux Mouton Rothschild and others fetch more than $100 per bottle. The wine from Medoc is typically 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc and 25% Merlot.

The right side (eastwards) of Bordeaux contains famous districts St Emilion and Pomerol. Here, Merlot is the dominant grape (75%) with a minority blend of Cabernet Franc (25%).

Other younger wine producing countries have copied Bordeaux. In Australia, the USA and New Zealand straight Cabernet Sauvignon has been fashionable for decades. In recent years we are seeing more and more blends of two of the Bordeaux varieties and also all three being used. A wine made from Cabernet Sauvignon with one or both of Cabernet Franc and Merlot is known as a Bordeaux blend. These three grapes are considered cousins of each other in terms of grape characteristic. A fashionable name is "Cabernets" ie more than one type of Cabernet grape. Heggies Cabernets is a great example.

Australia has traditionally followed the blending principle by complimenting the austere character of Cabernet Sauvignon with the soft richness of Shiraz to give a Cabernet-Shiraz blend. However, the increasing interest in European wine styles seems to have dictated that Cabernet should keep to its Bordeaux family and Shiraz should stay on its own or maybe have a little of its own cousin in the blend - Grenache.

Exploration of Bordeaux blend wines in Australia is a rewarding experience. Our classic wine region for Cabernet is Coonawarra in South Australia. Wynns, Petaluma, Lindemans St George, Jamiesons Run, Bowen Estate, Hollick, Katnook, Leconfield, Penfolds Bin 707, Rosemount Show are world class.

Australian Cabernet Sauvignons tend to fall into two types depending on winemaking. A softer more scented cedar blackberry flavour arises when some fermentation is done in oak barrels and the wines are matured for 9-12 months in quality new barrels with the bung rammed firmly in to seal the barrel. Lindemans, Mildara, Jamiesons Run and Leconfield are examples. The second style is closer to Bordeaux in character. Longer periods in oak, the barrel left with bung upwards, and pumping of the wine between various barrels once or twice during maturation, gives a more austere deep tannic flavour which needs time to develop. Katnook, Petaluma, Penfold Bin 707, Wynns Black Label, Wynns John Riddoch, Hollick and Rosemount Show Cabernet represent the latter group.

The southern part of WA around Mt Barker and Albany is known for great Cabernet - examples include Alkoomi, Goundrey, Houghton Frankland River and Plantagenet. Further north, Margaret River has great Cabernet from Cape Mentrelle, Cullens, Evans & Tate, Leeuwin Estate, Moss Wood, Vasse Felix and Willespie.

Cabernet has travelled to a range of other regions and climates. Clare Valley has Mitchell, Sevenhill, Leasingham and Tim Knappstein. Central Victoria has Balgownie, Taltarni, Redbank and Chateau Tahbilk. the Yarra Valley has Mount Mary, Seville Estate, Yarra Yering, Coldstream Hills and Diamond Valley. In the Hunter Valley there is Lakes Folly, Brokenwood and Rosemount.

What a feast!