What Food Pairs With Cabernet Sauvignon?

The supposed ‘birth’ of Cabernet Sauvignon dates to the 17th Century in France where an accidental crossbreeding of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc created this fabulous wine we have today  Sauvignon first arrived in Australia in 1832, through a James Busby collection. Unfortunately, many of the initial vines did not successfully grow due to a poor choice in location sites, though it has now since become an Australian wine success story and is Australia’s second most widely grown red grape variety, behind the popular Shiraz.

Cabernet Sauvignon can grow successfully in both cool and warm climates, it just means that there are slight variations between the two with warmer climate Cabernet Sauvignon’s generally having riper fruits, richer flavours and soft tannins, whereas cool climate Cabernet Savignon’s tend to have a tighter tannin structure, with more restrained fruit flavours.  The most common warm climate areas in Australia for the growing of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are Margaret River, Coonawarra and Barossa Valley.  Whereas, the cooler climate areas are Eden, Yarra and Clare Valley.  Cabernet Sauvignon is known for being a full-bodied and rich drink of high acidity and tannin, with flavours of dark plums, blackberries, vanilla, eucalyptus, cedar, chocolate and occasionally coffee. It is often aged in oak barrels that gives it its signature mature taste, though the length of the maturing process is down to the winemaker’s preference and makes each Cabernet Sauvignon individual to its owner.

Verwood Estate Wines is based in the Southern Highlands in New South Wales, Australia which is considered a cool climate region.   We were able to produce one of our first vintages in 12 years due to being blessed with a warm, dry year free of frost –perfectly balanced for the cool climate. As Cabernet Sauvignon usually takes longer to grow due to requiring longer time in the sun to ripen, Verwood was lucky enough to have a beautifully warm summer in 2018/2019 that provided us with our first Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2019.  Our wine is smooth and very easy to drink with an array of bold and intense flavours of black fruits and toasty notes of blackcurrant, red plum, eucalyptus, and vanilla.  It has also been aged in French oak barrels for a year, creating some maturation, yet remaining easy and pleasant on the palate. Now that we’ve piqued your interest in Verwood’s Special Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2019, lets see what food pairs well with our red delight?

Our first sampling of the Cabernet Sauvignon was with beef nachos, salad, sour cream, and guacamole which turned out to beautiful combination. The difference in taste when pairing the wine with meat created a full-bodied, but smooth taste, and when pairing it with the salad created more of a refreshing taste on the palate.  The diversity that a Cabernet Sauvignon has in pairing with a variety of foods just makes it all the more pleasing and enjoyable to drink.1 Before we go on though, I do have to tell you how we came about to have our first tasting of Cabernet Sauvignon and Beef Nachos.  Beth and I had just crossed the Victorian boarders into NSW (legally) during the Corona lockdown.  We arrived at Verwood Estates and were isolated in what was a very nice suite to isolate in I might add.  We were isolating with a Canadian pair who had also crossed the Victorian Boarders.  That day the “free team” as they had come to be known, had bottled the first Verwood Cabernet Sauvignon, a reason to celebrate no doubt.  So Natalie and the team cooked up a delicious beef nachos, sour cream, guacomole and salad.  It was our first official Verwood Wine Food Pairing, and it was a success.  That night will be one I forever fondly remember.