Top 5 Grape Varieties if you like Cabernet Sauvignon

These are my top five picks for wines to try if you like the Cabernet Sauvignon grape variety. So let's start off by describing Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a black-skinned grape that typically has high levels of acidity, high levels of tannin, showcases flavors of blackcurrant, blackberry, and dark fruit notes. It's often aged in oak, so we'll see flavors of vanilla, cedar, clove, and coconut. And depending on where it's grown, we'll also see a little bit of a green characteristic. So maybe a green bell pepper in a cooler area, and more like a sweet green herb such as mint in a warmer area. So let's explore the grape varieties that are similar or comparable to Cabernet Sauvignon. Starting off with Cabernet Franc. Now what you may not know about Cabernet Sauvignon is that it comes from two grape varieties as its parents. So we have Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc, so therefore we have Cabernet Sauvignon. Now because one of the parents for this grape variety is Cabernet Franc, it shares a lot of the similar characteristics. We may find some of that same high levels of acidity and high levels of tannin, and a little bit of that green characteristic. Now for me, I love the Cabernet Francs being grown in the oak noggin. Let's give one a try. So having a smell, we get a little bit of that leafy characteristic, a bit of the green pepper, very typical of Cabernet Sauvignon, but here we're seeing it in Cabernet Franc. There's also some really nice oak notes of vanilla and clove. I find that the style of Cabernet Franc in the oak noggin is very much like that warm climate Cabernet Sauvignon from California. So more on the fuller bodied, more darker fruit flavors, but nice silky tannins. Next up, we have Merlot. Now Merlot is more of a comparable or a companion to Cabernet Sauvignon. So both of these grape varieties come from the Bordeaux region in France and are very commonly blended together. Here I've selected one from the Washington state. Washington makes exceptional Merlot, and you'll see by the name, the Velvet Devil, it typically has this very velvety and smooth characteristic. So while Cabernet Sauvignon can be very fresh and tannic, Merlot tends to be the softer side when it's blended together. So let's give this wine a taste. You can see that there are some similarities between Cabernet and Merlot with the darker fruits, but this is much more plush and soft. That plummy note, the baking spice is really evident. The tannins tend to be a Cabernet Sauvignon. You can see how it's a nice counterpart or that balancing point between the high tannins and those nice softer smoother tannins. Malbec is another grape variety indigenous to France, but has found a home in Argentina. Here we have the high Andes mountains, and when we're in the elevation, the grapes that are grown there tend to retain a really nice high level of acidity. So if you like that refreshing characteristic of Cabernet Sauvignon, turn to Malbec in that high altitude, which has the refreshing acidity, as well as those firm tannins. Let's give Malbec a taste. So again on the nose, we have those darker fruits, more blackberry, a little bit of a blueberry note. On the palate, we are in that medium to full body range typical of Cabernet. The darker fruits, a little hint of oak, but there is that nice refreshing acidity on the finish comparable to Cabernet Sauvignon. Tempranillo is a grape variety that we typically find in Spain. You may know it from the Rioja region, but the one I've selected here is from Ribera del Duero. So a little bit further south from Rioja is the Ribera del Duero appellation, where we're still working with the Tempranillo grape variety, but because we have a little bit more heat, the grapes are a little bit riper, and we may be a little bit more familiar with the fruit flavors coming from the Ribera region compared to Rioja. Now here we have different aging classifications, Crianza, Reserva, and Gran Reserva, which tells you how much time the wine has been aged. And the kind of key tie factor here between Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo is this oak aging characteristic. So here we see the dark fruit flavors, maybe some drying tannins, but also the influence of oak. So let's try our Crianza from Ribera del Duero. So let's give this wine a taste. We have some of those nice dark fruit aromas, but I am picking up some really nice subtle notes of vanilla and clove. Typically in this region we see a little bit more of the American oak, so there's also a little bit of coconut and dill notes as well. Very similar to Cabernet in that we have a nice full-bodied wine, dark fruit flavors, nice firm tannins. This is a great alternative. If you like Cabernet, give Tempranillo a try. Carmoniere is the last grape variety that I've selected as something similar to Cabernet Sauvignon. This again is rich, full-bodied, and originates from the Bordeaux region, but it's found its home in Chile. Now this grape variety, a little bit more of the red fruits, but also very much that leafy tomato leaf characteristic that can have that similar tie in to Cabernet Sauvignon, but it's just dialed up quite a bit. So let's give this wine a taste. I like those bright red fruit notes, very leafy herbal, quite rich and decadent. This is again full-bodied, nice firm tannins, an excellent comparison to that intense green characteristic that we might find in Cabernet Sauvignon. So here we have five different grape varieties from all over the world that represent some similarities and maybe some nice comparable characteristics to our top-selling wine, Cabernet Sauvignon.