LIQUID INVESTMENTS
MICHAEL FRIDJHON: Life was a cabernet, old chum — now the variety is less certain
‘For all of the prestige associated with cabernet, its status in the world of wine is anything but assured’
Cabernet is an unlikely grape to be the most planted premium red variety in the fine-wine world. While its versatility has helped to get it cultivated in more places than, say, pinot noir, the kind of wine it yields in its traditional heartland of Bordeaux is not exactly the flavour profile sought by 21st-century palates. Grenache once enjoyed a more extensive vineyard, though much of what was produced was high-volume, low-quality, everyday plonk. This partly explains why so much grenache has since been uprooted and replaced with shiraz, a key factor in the worldwide shiraz lake. This is not to suggest there isn’t a cabernet lake: while Bordeaux may be home to the greatest cabernet estates in the world, it is also where desperately dull generic red wine is produced in huge volumes for a declining market. There’s more Bordeaux Rouge (made from cabernet and merlot) produced in the vast flatlands around Gironde and Dordogne than in the entire Western Cape. For all of the prestige assoc...
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