Source
CabernetSauvignonisthemostimportant
varietyintheBordeauxregionofsouthwest
France,butitisincreasinglyimportantinthe
LanguedocareaofsouthernFrance.Itisalso
grownwidelyineasternEurope,Australia,
Chile,Argentina,and,intheUnitedStates,
inCaliforniaandWashington.InCalifornia
thevarietyhasincreaseddramaticallyin
thepast20yearsinmoderatelywarm
regions,especiallyinhighWinklerRegion
IItohighRegionIII,suchascentralNapa
Valley,aswellasinRegionIV,suchasLodi
inthenorthernSanJoaquinValley.Recently
CabernetSauvignonwasshowntobeacross
betweenCabernetfrancandSauvignonblanc.
Description
Clusters:smalltomedium;conical,loose
towell-filledclusters;medium-long
peduncles.
Berries:small;round,blue-blackberries;
thickskins.
Leaves:medium;verydeeply5-lobed;over-
lapping,lyre-shapedpetiolarsinusand
lateralsinusesthatappearlikefiveround
holesaroundleafmargin;medium-sized
teeth;uppersurfacedarkgreen
andsmooth;scatteredtuftsofhairon
lowersurface.
Shoottips:feltywithredmargins;young
leaveswithbronze-redcast.
GrowthandSoilAdaptability
Thevineisvigoroustoexcessivelyvigorous
dependingonthesite,rootstock,planting
density,andtrellissysteminteractions;itis
rarelyinadequatelyvigorous.Shootsareini-
tiallyuprightbuttrailinlateseasonwhen
growthisabundant.Productionofasecond
cropcanbemoderatewhenvigorisexces-
sive.Recommendedvinespacingis5to
7feetdependingonsiteconditions.High-
densityplantings(1,500vinesperacre)can
causeuncontrollablegrowth.Regardlessof
rootstockchoice,CabernetSauvignondoes
notperformwellonpoorlydrainedsoils.
Rootstocks
Rootstocksareusuallyselectedtocounteract
scionvigor.Ondeepsoilswithhigh-vigor
potential,thelow-vigorrootstocks3309C,
101-14Mgt,or1616Carepreferred;on
moderatelydeepsoilsTeleki5CorSO4;and
onshallowsoilsorhillsideswhereirrigation
islimitedthedrought-tolerantandvigorous
rootstocks110Rand140Ruarepreferred.
Therootstock420Acanonlyberecom-
mendedondeep,fine-texturedsoilsandat
relativelyclosespacing.Thereisinterestin
RipariaGloirefordeep,fertilesoilsbutrela-
tivelylittledataorexperienceisavailable.
WhileSt.Georgehasbeenatraditionalcom-
binationforCabernetSauvignon,soilsmust
notberootrestricted,andatendencyfor
poorerfruitsetexacerbatesexcessivegrowth.
Cabernet
Sauvignon
Synonyms
InFrance,thevarietyisknownasPetiteCabernet,Vidure,Petite-Vidure,Bouche,Petite-Bouche,
BouchetSauvignon,andSauvignonRouge.InSpainitiscalledBurdeosTintos.
CABERNETSAUVIGNON37
clusters
Smalltomedium;conical,loosetowell-filled
clusters;medium-longpeduncles.
berries
Small;round,blue-blackberries;thickskins.
38WineGrapeVarietiesinCalifornia
Clones
ThemostwidelyplantedCabernetSauvignon
clonesaretheidenticallyperformingselections
CabernetSauvignonFPS07and08.(Bothorigi-
natedfromthesameConcannonvines,differ-
ingonlyindaysofheattreatment.)Cabernet
SauvignonFPS06isahighlyregardedselection
fromtheformerUCJacksonFoothillExperiment
Station;however,itsyieldisabout60percent
thatofFPSselection08.Whetherthetrade-off
inyieldisbalancedbyacommensurateincrease
inwinequalityisamatterofdebate.Interest
hasalsosurfacedinCabernetSauvignonFPS04
fromMendoza.Morerecently,newclonalmate-
rialisavailableforwhichthereislittleCalifornia
performanceinformation.FromFrance,Cabernet
SauvignonENTAV-INRA
?
15,169,170,191,
337,338,341,and412shouldincreasethe
diversityofCabernetmaterialsavailabletogrow-
ersandvintners.Viticulturistsshouldbewaryof
traditionalfieldselectionsofCabernetSauvignon.
Manyareinfectedwithleafrolland/orcorkybark
virusesandexhibitgraftincompatibilitieswith
certainrootstocks.Threeofthesefieldselections
fromtheNapaValleyhavebeentreatedforvirus
andarenowavailableasregisteredselections:
CabernetSauvignonFPS29(Niebaum-Coppola
Vineyards),CabernetSauvignonFPS30(Disney
SilveradoVineyards),andCabernetSauvignon
FPS31(MondaviVineyards).
Production
Vineyardscanbear6to7tonsperacre,espe-
ciallyathigherplantingdensities,butlower
yields(3to4tons)areexpectedwhengrown
onhillsidesorshallowsoils.Thecropisoften
thinnedsignificantlyatveraison(upto20per-
cent)toeliminatelater-ripeningfruit.
Harvest
Period:Amid-tolate-seasonvariety;harvest
occursinlateAugusttolateOctober,depend-
ingonthelocationandheatunitaccumulation.
Method:Handharvestisthetypicalmethodfor
thevarietyinhigh-qualityregions.Machine
harvestwithacanopyshakeriseasyto
medium,withfruitremovedmostlyassingle
berriesandsomeclusters.Juicingislight.
Trunkshakingiseasy,withmostlysingleber-
riesandsomeclustersremoved.Juicingis
alsolight.ThereislessMOGandspurdam-
agewithtrunkshakingwhencomparedto
straight-rodheads.Bow-rodmachinespicking
vinestrainedtovertical-shoot-positionedsys-
temswillhavelessMOGthanunpositioned
trellissystems.
leaves
Medium;verydeeply5-lobed;overlapping,
lyre-shapedpetiolarsinusandlateralsinuses
thatappearlikefiveroundholesaroundleaf
margin;medium-sizedteeth;uppersurfacedark
greenandsmooth;scatteredtuftsofhairon
lowersurface.
TrainingandPruning
Vinesarecommonlytrainedtoabilateralcordon
andprunedtosixtoeighttwo-nodespursper
3feetofcordon.Unilateralcordonsmaybeused
whenvinesarespacedlessthan5feetapart.
Quadrilateralcordontrainingisoftenpracticed
wherehighvigorisexpected.Therearestrong
proponentsofcanepruningthevarietyinthe
NorthCoast.CabernetSauvignonisveryadapt-
abletomechanicalpruningandharvest.
TrellisingandCanopyManagement
Vertical-shoot-positionedsystemsaregenerally
usedwhetherasundividedorashorizontally
dividedsystems.Verticallydividedsystemssuch
asScottHenryorSmart-Dysonaresometimes
usedtobalanceexpectedvigorwithadditional
retainednodesinthefruitingzone.GDCsystems
arefallingoutoffavorastheuprightgrowthof
CabernetSauvignonisdifficulttopositionina
downwardmanner.OrientingrowsofVSPsys-
temstopreventdirectexposureoffruittoafter-
noonsunisdesirable.Trimmingshootgrowthin
VSPsystemsiscommon,butatrellisshouldpro-
videapproximately4feetofcanopyaftertrim-
mingforproperbalanceoffruitandleafarea.
InsectandDiseaseProblems
CabernetSauvignonismoderatelysusceptibleto
powderymildew.Itslooseclustersarenotprone
tobunchrots,butrotcanoccurwhenspurselec-
tionatpruningresultsincrowdedshootgrowth.
ThevarietyisquitesusceptibletoEutypadie-
back;vineyards12to15yearsoldcanhavea
highpercentageofvineswithatleastonepoint
ofinfection.Vineyardsolderthan15yearsoften
alsoexhibitsymptomsofblackmeasles.Illegally
importedclonesarestronglysuspectedtobe
infectedwithviruses,probablyleafrollorcorky
bark,oramixtureboth.
OtherCulturalCharacteristics
CabernetSauvignonoftenproducesblindbuds,
typicallyinthemid-caneregion,nodes6through
10ona12-nodecane.Thisisaparticularprob-
leminthetrainingphasewhenlongcanesare
laidoutonthefruitingwiretobecomecordons.
Blindbudsonthosecanesprecludenormalspac-
ingofspurs.Latentshootproductionisprodi-
gious,andshootthinningremovesunwanted
shootsatthebaseoftwo-nodespursoratthe
headofcane-prunedvines.
WineryUse
CabernetSauvignonisusedexclusivelyforhigh-
qualitytomiddle-quality,drytablewines.Small
amountsmaybeblendedintoMerlotorCabernet
francwinestoprovidemoretanninstructure.
Grapesgrowninareastoocoolforthevariety
candevelopahighlyundesirableherbaceousor
“greenbellpepper”aromainveryshadedcondi-
tions.Inareastoowarmforthevariety,fruitwill
notdevelopnormalvarietalcharacter.
—JamesA.Wolpert
CABERNETSAUVIGNON39
shoottips
Feltywithredmargins;youngleaves
withbronze-redcast.
|
|
