Vine varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon

Of all the transplants of European varieties to California, it is Cabernet Sauvignon that seems most at home, particularly in the Napa Valley. Cabernet had surfaced as a leading success in Napa by the 1880s according to producers and critics of the time. Its primacy there has been recognized by authorities ever since, although not always by the consuming public. Other parts of the state have been trying to catch Napa since the 1880s, and most convincingly since the 1970s. The result was a state total of 86,000 acres/35,000 ha by 2013, of which Napa’s share, despite vigorous increases in Cabernet acreage, is less than a quarter.