Waiting for Cabernet

Now, today, head outside and pretend you're a grape. Stand and face the sun, feel the wind on your face and the temperature. Imagine you own a winery and it's your late-ripening cabernet sauvignon that is still hanging on the vines. Would you pick it or hold off for better weather?

It's do-or-die time for many grapes and it is decision-time for many winemakers and owners. If you want to know why wine is so expensive, it's because more often than not success comes down to the weather, or essentially an act of God. And who would bet on that?

It takes nerves of steel to wait for cabernet sauvignon to reach maturity, especially when daytime temperatures are little more than 12C or 15C and the frost is gathering on the pumpkin. Add a little rain to the forecast, plus a nervous banker, and you have a recipe for stress. As if on cue, the weather in the Northern Hemisphere has turned cool and after 100-odd days of budding, shooting, leafing, flowering and growing, the vintage for late-ripening grapes hangs in the balance as winemakers await the final phenolic or physiological ripeness.

It's a delicate dance. Too much sugar will spawn hot, high alcohol wines. Not enough phenolic ripeness in the seeds, stems and skins can leave you with unforgivable hard green tannins that will permeate the wine and never go away. Getting ripeness across the vineyard is a goal of modern wine growers. Bio-dynamic producers are big on fine-tuning their growing sites to close down the fully ripe window to about 10 days, thus encouraging a picking regimen that is not encountering underripe, ripe and overripe fruit. The result is a homogeneity of ripeness that by nature is attractive and inviting to the wine drinker.

If anything, blending other grapes such as merlot or petit verdot is probably the most effective in taming the tannin and structure of the robust cabernet. But in the end, it's the softer tannins and ripe fruit that win the day.

This week we look at six fine examples of cabernet sauvignon you should consider laying down for a couple of years for maximum effect. They would also make great gift ideas if you are an early Christmas shopper.

We begin in the Maipo Valley, Chile, with Santa Rita Cabernet Sauvignon Medalla Real Reserva Especial 2005. This single estate hand-picked wine offers amazing flavours for the price. Look for a spicy dried herbs nose with rich black fruit/cassis cedar and more bay leaf flavours wrapped into a full-bodied mid-palate and finish. The tannins are rich and soft, but should easily melt into your steak. Fine value here.

Not too far down the road is the Marques de Casa Concha Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 sourced in the Puente Alto. Cassis and a big minty, sappy, coffee, peppery, licorice nose preview this round, warm and supple red. There's plenty of coffee, chocolate, black cherry and bay leaf flavours flecked with mint and licorice root. This is a hedonistic red with ripe tannins and balanced despite the alcohol in the back end. A fine value beef wine.

The Paul Dolan Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 is made with organic grapes grown in Mendocino County. Expect a fresh peppery, blueberry, cassis nose with bits of cedar bark. The palate is somewhat rustic with chewy black cherry, licorice, resin and coffee notes over black olives and chocolate. A bit rambunctious and rustic, but should settle down with two to four years. Serve now with braised beef dishes.

New from California is Fuse Cabernet Sauvignon 2006. This Napa Valley red is fusing 25-per-cent syrah with 75-per-cent cabernet sauvignon in an intense meaty, cassis jam, black cherry, tobacco-scented red. The entry is supple with a whack of blueberry, pepper, coffee, vanilla, licorice root and savoury flavours. Good intensity in a young rustic red. Perfect for heavier fall dishes.

There are few cabernets as consistent as Penfolds Cabernet Sauvignon Bin 707 2005. Rich, dry and wound up tight, it has a plethora of young, smooth grainy tannins to offset its life-giving and acidity. The palate is a mix of coffee, cassis jam, orange, vanilla, licorice and tobacco encased in a very intense package. Definitely built for the long haul, or at least another five to seven years. If you must drink it, think prime rib.

We finish with a terrific bottle of Signorello Padrone 2004 from Napa Valley. Signorello seems to best understand the power and elegance equation with this spicy, floral, peppery, earthy scented red wrapped in a round, full-bodied, smooth-grained tannin jacket. Look for spicy, coffee, cedar, vanilla, mocha, blackberry and licorice fruit flavours perfectly flecked with bits of orange peel. Certainly this wine is the beneficiary of a wine grower who waited for perfect ripeness.

Price: $22

UPC: 089419007176

Score: 89/100

Remarks: Spicy dried herbs, black fruit/cassis flavours wrapped in a full-bodied red.

MARQUES DE CASA CONCHA CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2006, PUENTE ALTO, VALLE DEL MAIPO, CHILE

Price: $25

UPC: 07804320333175

Score: 88/100

Remarks: Hedonistic with ripe tannins and well balanced. Good-value cabernet.

PAUL DOLAN CABERNET SAUVIGNON (ORGANIC GRAPES) 2005, MENDOCINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

Price: $25

UPC: 00086828910172

Score: 88/100

Remarks: Warm rustic, chewy red you should serve with steak.

FUSE CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2006, NAPA VALLEY, CALIFORNIA

Price: $40

UPC: 08877665520066

Score: 89/100

Remarks: Blueberry, peppery, blackberry, coffee, vanilla, licorice root, savoury flavours.

PENFOLDS CABERNET SAUVIGNON BIN 707 2005, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Price: $120

UPC: 012354071254

Score: 94/100

Remarks: Fine intensity and structure. Cellar 3-7 years for best results.

SIGNORELLO PADRONE 2004, NAPA VALLEY, CALIFORNIA

Price: $120

UPC: 752183270113

Score: 95/100

Remarks: Cassis jam, black berry, licorice and orange peel flavours. Excellent.