featured article : November 1, 2013
History of California Cabernet Sauvignon
Written by Rick on November 1, 2013
Cabernet grapes as we know them today date back some four centuries to the
first cross-breeding of Franc and Sauvignon grapes in southern France. When
the winemaking industry came to California and realized the great
potential of the dry, warm climate, the history of California Cabernet
Sauvignon took off. California’s temperate climate helps the Cabernet
grapes grow, though the versatile vines can thrive in many places that more
sensitive grapes cannot, making it one of the most productive wines in the
history of the state. How did it grow to such successful measures in
California?
Spanish Settlement
Long before the American colonists ever dreamed of throwing tea into the
Boston Harbor, California proved to be an attractive region for viniculture
of many varieties. The first grapes planted in the soil by Spanish
colonists and missionaries grew in the late 1600s, prior to the invention
of Cabernet Sauvignon itself. As the Cabernet grapes grew in popularity
across Europe, they spread into European colonies over the decades. The
first vineyard in California to ever maintain consistent productivity came
under the control of Franciscan priests located near San Diego. Father
Junipero Serra, remembered as the father of California wines, planted only
a smattering of Cabernet, since these grapes needed to be imported from
across the world at great cost. Most of the productivity of early Spanish
vines came from a hybrid grape resembling today’s Palomino grapes, and was
known as Mission Wine.
First American Involvement
When American settlers began to cross the continent (or take the longer
ships across South America) to get to California, they too realized the
great potential of the region for viniculture. A Frenchman named Jean Louis
Vignes, who hailed from the eponymous wine-making region of Bordeaux,
looked to establish a consistent plot in today’s Los Angeles. California
remained a backwater, however, until the gold rush of 1948, when settlers
crossed the Rocky Mountains and the demand for wine skyrocketed. Since
California was only minimally affected by the Civil War, the state enjoyed
great prosperity over the next half century, with wine production
increasing in turn. One of the pioneers of California Cabernets, Agoston
Haraszthy, helped to create new breeds by bringing vine cuttings from
Europe. By the turn of the century, California produced some ten million
cases of wine, some in redwood barrels when other timber supplies ran low.
European Wine Blight
One of the darker periods of wine history occurred in the late 1800s, when
European wine production bottomed out as a result of an aphid species that
wiped out French, German, and Spanish vineyards. The history of California
Cabernet Sauvignon became part of the history of international wine in the
1860s, because European wine producers had no choice but to import foreign
Cabernet vines and grapes that proved more resistant to the aphids. As a
result, almost all the native European Cabernet grapes died out, and much
of the European Cabernet we drink today originates from American vineyards.
Prohibition
In 1919, the federal government announced the criminalization of wine along
with beer and spirits. Overnight, wine production ceased due to the laws
against the creation, sale, or shipping of any types of alcohol. The price
of Cabernet grapes and wine shot up as supply bottomed out while demand
remained high: a ton of grapes that cost ten dollars in 1919 cost eighty
dollars in 1921 and a staggering four hundred dollars by 1924. Despite the
efforts of the government to keep drinking down, Cabernet continued to
flow, and eight years after Prohibition began, wine consumption in the USA
had doubled. Despite the booming sales, Cabernet at the time had extremely
low quality — much like the “bathtub gin” that bootleggers ran — since
winemakers could name their own prices. Prohibition ended in 1933, and,
ironically, wine consumption fell in the US to about half of its level
during alcohol’s criminalization. The damage had been done, however: out of
the 700 California wineries that produced Cabernet Sauvignon in 1919, only
about half survived Prohibition.
The Judgment of Paris
In 1976, British wine merchant and aficionado Steven Spurrier organized a
wine competition that would seek to crown the best producers of each
vintage between France and the United States. The belief that French wines
would reign supreme, espoused by Spurrier himself, was shattered when
California cabernets swept the blind taste-tests judgments; one French
judge even demanded her ballot back after the reveal. In the aftermath,
international demand for California wines spiked. Thirty years later, a
“Judgment of Paris” anniversary taste-test, with Spurrier again organizing
the event, re-affirmed the California dominance over their French
counterparts.
The Prominence Of Cabernet Sauvignon
Since the post-war era, Cabernet has been a major player in California wine
production. Seventy-five thousand acres of California countryside are
devoted to production, creating half a million tons of Cabernet grapes to
be pressed and fermented, with a full sixteen percent of all California
wine sales coming from Cabernet Sauvignon. Today, Napa Valley Cabernet
grapes retail for no less than five thousand dollars per ton, an average of
about fifty dollars per bottle. Many Napa winemakers hail directly or
indirectly from the Bordeaux region of France, including Clos de Val’s
connection to the Guestier family and Beaucanon’s connection to the de
Coninck family. Many more borrow from the Bordeaux business practices of
mixing together up to five different wine variants to produce the final
product, combining Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc with Merlot,
Verdot, and Malbec. French winemaking emphasizes no strict importance to
the percentages of each wine in a blend, instead dictating each be added
according to soil and climate. Unlike Bordeaux in France, however, which
enjoys only four soil types, California Cabernet grows in no less than 33
soil series to generate a rich variant of wine.
