Cabernet Sauvignon
is the world’s popular wine. It
originated in Bordeaux as a natural cross of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon
Blanc. Here in California plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon represent one third
of all the acreage planted to red grapes.
California’s relationship with Cabernet has not been trouble free. In the 1970s the University of California’s
degree day system, a way to characterize climate, equated the Salinas valley
with Bordeaux. This encouraged growers
in Monterey to plant Cabernet Sauvignon.
And plant they did. At one point
the largest contiguous vineyard of Cabernet Sauvignon in the world was just
outside of King City and was close to five hundred acres. Unfortunately, the degree day system
overstated the warmth of the Salinas Valley and the Cabernet Sauvignon planted
there contained high levels of methylpyrazines.
Methoxypyrazines are potent aromatic compounds responsible for green,
vegetal, and herbaceous characteristics in wines, particularly Sauvignon Blanc
and Cabernet Sauvignon. For two decades
growers struggled to grow and sell their Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. The wines, burdened with these vegetal
characters, never gained traction in the marketplace. Eventually growers threw in the towel and
grafted to more suitable varieties and in the case of Jerry Lohr moved his
Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards to Paso Robles, ninety miles south of Salinas and
twenty degrees warmer. In Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon has flourished. It was
while I was the winemaker for Jerry Lohr in the early 1990s that I learned the
important lesson of growing grapes in the right climate. So, it only seems logical that when I wanted
to produce Cabernet Sauvignon I looked to Paso Robles.
The Three Way
Vineyard is perched on a hillside west of the town of Paso Robles at about
1,600 feet. Steve Carter tends the
vineyard and delivers fruit that has wonderful characteristics; deep color,
savory dark fruit flavors and tannins that while substantial are mature and
balanced.
