The world’s favorite grape is dominated by one producing region – yep, that one.
Don Kavanagh·Saturday, 30-Mar-2024
A question often heard among wine types is what would Napa Valley do without Cabernet Sauvignon. Perhaps a better question is what would Cabernet do without Napa?
While Cabernet remains the most popular grape variety in the world – at least according to the millions of searches we get each week on Wine-Searcher – and one of the most widely planted, it’s real appeal is much more specific than you might think.
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Looking at the lists of most wanted, most expensive and best Cabernets shows there is a tremendous bias towards Napa Valley when it comes to Cabernet. Our top 25 best Cabernets list consists entirely of Napa wines, while our most expensive Cabs list has only one non-Napa wine among the top 25 (and that is a blend of Napa Cabernet with South Australian Shiraz).
Turning to this list, the most wanted among the millions of people searching for Cabernet on our site, it runs out that, with one exception, Napa is the only show in town.
Let’s look at what the wines are.
The World’s Most Wanted Cabernets on Wine-Searcher:
| Cabernet Name | Score | Ave Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Screaming Eagle | 97 | $4105 | |
| Caymus Vineyards | 91 | $94 | |
| Scarecrow | 95 | $1034 | |
| Caymus Vineyards Special Selection | 93 | $237 | |
| Shafer Vineyards Hillside Select | 95 | $368 | |
| Beaulieu Vineyard BV Georges de Latour Private Reserve | 93 | $155 | |
| Promontory | 96 | $965 | |
| Penfolds Bin 407 | 91 | $78 | |
| Dunn Vineyards Howell Mountain | 94 | $207 | |
| Spottswoode Family Estate Grown | 96 | $262 |
Well done to the Penfolds Bin 407 for managing to elbow its way onto this list, as forcing a way through Napa’s heavy timber is an impressive achievement.
Indeed, in previous years when we have run a most-wanted Cabernet list, we have excluded Napa from proceedings and given it a separate list of its own; this year we decided to amalgamate the Napa and Cabernet lists just to show exactly how synonymous the two have become. Other regions might have made a name for themselves with certain varieties – Marborough Sauvignon, Argentinian Malbec, Oregon Pinot Noir spring pretty readily to mind – but nowhere has quite the same symbiosis that Napa and Cabernet do.
Taking a look at the 100 most searched-for Cabernets shows a list that comprises 80 percent Napa wines. With the exception of Pinot Noir and Burgundy, no other variety is as closely related with a specific appellation as Cabernet is with Napa – and you could argue that Burgundy doesn’t really count, because the sheer number of appellations it covers is vast by comparison with Napa.
The other feature that stands out with the wines on the list above is their prices. People love Cabernet and – crucially, at a time when selling wine seems harder than ever – they are willing to pay a premium to satisfy their tastes. With the exception of the Screaming Eagle (which has seen its global average retail price fall by 18 percent in the past two years), all of these wines are either at or very near their peak prices. None are going backwards appreciably, and most are commanding their highest-ever retail prices.
A quick look at non-Napa Cabernet suggests that Napa is the region that is keeping Cabernet’s price and prestige alive – other regions are seeing flatlining or declining average prices and falling interest; Napa keeps working its magic on Cabernet fans.
In a world where people are becoming increasingly immune to wine’s charms, perhaps Napa, a region that owes so much to Cabernet Sauvignon, will be able to say that Cabernet owes a hell of a lot to Napa, too. And maybe the wider wine world might, too.