Wake up and snort the blackcurrants and pencil shavings you tannin-thirsty, purple-toothed lushes. This week we’re comparing two titanic categories of wine that showcase the impact of “terroir” and winemaking “practices” on the final product of Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines.
California Cabernet Sauvignon and Left Bank Bordeaux wines are two proverbial “giants” of the wine world, each with a devoted following of unabashedly unhinged winos and a reputation for producing some of the finest red wines globally. While both showcase the noble Cabernet Sauvignon grape, they offer distinct expressions that are shaped by their distinct terroirs, climates, winemaking traditions, and regulatory frameworks, particularly around allowable winemaking additives and adjustments (more on that in a moment).
DID YOU KNOW… California Cabernet Sauvignon and Left Bank Bordeaux showcase distinct structural differences due to their contrasting terroirs. Napa Valley's warmer climate yields Cabernets that are typically fuller-bodied, with riper fruit flavors, higher alcohol content, and softer tannins. In contrast, Left Bank Bordeaux wines are generally more restrained and structured, exhibiting more subtle fruit notes, pronounced earthiness and sometimes herbaceous characteristics, and firmer tannins in their youth, reflecting the region's cooler climate due to maritime influence from the Atlantic Ocean.
In the $30 to $50 price range, both regions offer compelling options for enthusiastic wine guzzlers, but unfortunately the use of additives still impacts the final style in this price range for many California wines (though far less so than the $10-30 range, especially towards the lower end of that range). Today we’re tasting through a handful of widely available and popular bottles in that price point to try to break down the stylistic differences, while giving you a glimpse into our own preferences in this beloved “category.”
Wine Additives
Breathtaking visualization of our tasting notes for a highly manipulated wine
Both French wine and American wine can legally include an array of additives, and the amount used is often higher in cheaper bottles where more “correction” is required to achieve an acceptable level of drinkability.
There is much stricter regulation around additives in France, particularly at the AOC level, and certainly a stronger sense of cultural obligation to uphold winemaking traditions that predate many modern additives. French winemakers generally focus on allowing the quality of the fruit, the “terroir” of the region, and traditional low-intervention winemaking practices to showcase the quality and style of the wines.
Nonetheless, even our nemesis Mega Purple (a grape juice concentrate designed to “enhance” the color and flavor of red wines), which is annoyingly common in the USA, may technically be permitted in some French wines, but luckily for us humble drinkers, in most AOC (including Bordeaux), it would not be permitted if for no other reason than that it is derived from grapes varieties not permitted in the blends.
In the USA, it’s trickier to navigate through the additive induced trend of producing “grade A plonk” for the masses, because production costs are generally higher, and even at higher price points, winemakers often turn to these additives to cut corners and make corrections that they believe will improve profitability and marketability.
Some producers add ingredient lists to their labels (check out this blurb from Ridge on the subject), but most choose not to. After all, if you do include an ingredients list in the United States, you’re obligated to list every ingredient used and I imagine some wines would have to engineer new bottle shapes to fit labels that long (Meiomi 👀). Unfortunately the steps involved in certifying ingredients make it cost prohibitive for many smaller wineries to do so even if they wanted to.
Anyway, TLDR; the EU regulates additives better and so manipulation is less pervasive, and in the US, you’re often making a safer bet with wines at a slightly higher price point. No hard and fast rule there, just the way things trend, especially for reds.
The Cabernet Connection
California and Bordeaux's Left Bank share a common thread in their little love affairs with Cabernet Sauvignon. This thick-skinned grape thrives in both regions, producing bold, structured wines with aging potential — but each region puts its unique stamp on the final product.
Left Bank Bordeaux wines come from the western side of the Gironde estuary, where gravelly soils and a maritime climate create ideal conditions for Cabernet Sauvignon. These wines are typically blends, with Cabernet Sauvignon (usually) as the dominant grape, supported by Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. Bordeaux's strict Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) system dictates everything from grape varieties to yield limits, and winemakers in the region often adhere to centuries-old traditions, focusing on elegance and balance.
California Cabs, on the other hand, often showcase the grape in a purer form. The warm, sunny and dry climate of regions like Napa Valley allows for riper fruit expression and higher alcohol levels, resulting in more full-bodied wines. Producers there, freed from historical constraints and stringent regulations, enjoy more flexibility (LIKE ME!), though they must adhere to certain labeling laws.
2020 Courtney Benham California Cab / 77 Points (I) / $29
Profile: Ripe dark fruit, potpourri, orange peel, graphite, vanilla Palate: Off dry, medium+ acidity, high tannin, full body, long finish
Fairly bitter finish in spite of confectionary profile, ripe fruit flavors, soft tannins, not a lot going on flavorwise beyond that. Comes across as artfully manipulated to the tune of a "higher end" mass market wine, like Caymus, where there are signs that perhaps megapurple was added (hence the residual sugar and confectionary notes). Aromatically it's quite nice, though not super complex, but definitely not my jam stylistically. If you like Caymus, this could be a good discount alternative for you, but given that the Bordeaux we tasted were in this price range, that's the direction I'd point you.
[Note: Purchase link for this omitted as it may be misleading. It seems they’ve quietly switched to a multi-county California blend as of at least 2020 while still claiming to be a “Napa Valley” wine on most retailer websites.]
Profile: Blackberry, chocolate, toast, potpourri, violets, wet stone, graphite, juniper berry Palate: Dry, high acid, high tannin, full body, long finish
Excellent value. Great structure and balance, floral and earthy, nicely concentrated. Not showing much in the way of tertiary yet, but you can bet this will continue to develop beautifully with age. I implore you to let this one decant for as much of a day (OR TWO) as possible before drinking if you can, it makes a huge difference.
Profile: Extremely ripe and juicy black fruit (black plum, black cherry, blackberry), expo marker, violet, licorice, cedar, chocolate, tobacco, hint of tomato paste Palate: Dry(ish), high acid, medium+ tannin, full body, long finish
Super extracted fruit profile with some layers to it. Profile is nice overall with some complexity, though it has a hint of an "expo marker" note that might just be a byproduct of how high the alcohol level is. A touch of residual sugar begs the Mega Purple question again, and leaves a bit of a confectionary aftertaste. Really not a style I enjoy; nonetheless, this is something a lot of palates will respond positively to, as long as the high alcohol (15.2%) doesn't bother you. Significantly better than the Courtney Benham and thusly infinitely better value. I won’t be pouring any more glasses from this bottle, but it might make its way into a batch of mulled wine because it's Glögg season y'all.
Profile: Violet, cassis, black cherry, raspberry, graphite, cigar box, tomato leaf Palate: Dry, high acid, high tannin, full body, long finish
In spite of scoring this the same as the Provenance, I vastly preferred this wine. It had a beautiful profile and fared significantly better in terms of balance. It fell slightly short in terms of concentration, but nonetheless this is a pretty solid Bordeaux for the price and goes great with food (as is tradition). If you have a chance to do a side by side of this one and the Provenance, you really should – it will be very instructive in terms of personal preference for two wines that in different ways achieved the same score using our metrics (and we’d love to hear if you agree with these scores).
Profile: Ripe black cherry, ripe black plum, mixed berry jam, cedar, mixed spice, mint, milk chocolate, vanilla Palate: Dry, full body, medium acid, medium tannin, long finish
This opulent wine is crafted to captivate a broad audience with its bold, “hedonistic” (for some) flavor profile. The high level of extraction, evidenced by its robust 14.7% ABV, delivers a rich, velvety texture that coats the mouth and gives the wine a “rich” mouthfeel. However, this wine has very little in the way of complexity or unique descriptors to make it an interesting or memorable wine. The tannin structure and acidity are also somewhat lacking, making the wine somewhat “flabby.” While this is a not a bad wine for the style, you can find similar experiences for less than half the price.
Profile: Blackberry, black cherry, red plum, raspberry, cedar, mixed spice, leather, juniper, wet stone, slight burnt rubber (dissipated with air), dark chocolate Palate: Dry, full body, medium+ acid, high tannin, long finish
This was a very good St. Julien with a mix of black and red fruits, spices, cedar and chocolate notes from maturation in oak barrels layered with wet stone “minerality” and a hint of leather starting to show from bottle aging. There was a slight burnt rubber note (not the good kind) after opening the wine, which dissipated by the next day, so I highly recommend imbibing this after significant oxygen exposure (i.e. hours after opening or the next day).
Profile: Blackcurrant, wild blackberry, forest floor, roasted tomato, violets, bay leaf, eucalyptus, mint, asian spice, leather, tobacco, leather, mocha Palate: Dry, full body, medium+ acid, high tannin, long finish
This is an elegant and concentrated wine, made from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes grown on the “sun-drenched” south-west facing slopes of Burgess Estate in Howell Mountain, showcasing rich black fruits, layered with vibrant herbaceous and spice notes and well-integrated oak spice due to 22 months of maturation in French oak. This wine is beginning to reveal beautiful tertiary notes of leather and tobacco after 8 years of bottle age. This wine will appease those who appreciate both the richness of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon based wines and the structure and complexity of premium Left Bank Bordeaux. For $46, this is a “relative bargain” in the Napa Valley Cabernet category.
Profile: Blackcurrant, blackberry, black plum, cedar, graphite, violets, licorice, clove, tobacco, mocha. Palate: Dry, full body, high acid, high tannin, long finish
This wine is the epitome of left bank Bordeaux made in a classic, structured style, with relatively low alcohol (13% abv) by today’s standards, while maintaining good concentration of black fruits, layered with the quintessential graphite note from the Cabernet Sauvignon, floral notes, well integrated oak spice and a hint of tobacco already showing from the initial stages of “bottle aging.” That being said, this wine has ample tannin and acidity suggesting a long life of evolution (for the better) with an additional decade or more of bottle aging.
Generous James scored 96 points out of the barrel. Here’s the dealio with barrel tasting: it’s like trying to judge a newborn baby for its future athletic ability while it’s lying in a crib screaming for mommy and daddy. In other words, it’s basically tasting something that inherently can’t be judged yet and making a projection about future quality based on pedigree, concentration and tannin levels. It’s not reliable and what’s more it is not how wines are scored at any other point in their lifetimes. If that were the case, wine ratings would never change over the lifetime of a wine (THEY DO THOUGH).
Well hopefully you’ve taken a few extremely wholesome things away from all of this — now we demand that you to get out there and side by side some bottles of roughly equal price point (ideally in the $30-50 range for the sake of hitting a quality threshold where they can be more reliably compared).
As you may already know, these types of pointed side by side comparisons are perhaps one of the best ways to “get in touch” with your personal taste preferences (and feelings), be it for juicy, ripe, bold and soft tannic styles or the slightly more restrained and structured styles typical of Bordeaux. Of course there is variance within each region, but familiarizing yourself with these regional styles at specific price points is an invaluable weapon for your oenophilic arsenal when you go out shopping for wine.
If you taste (or have tasted) any of these lower scoring Napa reds and LOVE them, then you've learned something extremely valuable about your taste preferences (and how they compare to ours).
Got any strong opinions about today’s post? Please take a few moments to belittle us in the comments!
Until next time, HAPPY DRINKING PEOPLE.
Cheers!
Isaac & Zach
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