The undisputed, noblest of red wine varietals and the base for many of the world's greatest wines, cabernet sauvignon is a tough-skinned grape that adapts to many different weather conditions and ripens late. This small-berried grape makes a masculine wine, regal and dark. In young cabernet sauvignons, deep cherry and blackberry currant flavors are typical; many have hints of spice and a robe of leather and earth that benefit from time spent aging in oak, which softens all the young elements of the wine and integrates into a delicious experience.

Cabernet flourishes in many regions, and its finest expressions are found in the Napa and Sonoma Valleys of California, where the wines are powerful, lush and incredibly great tasting. Nowhere in the world do so many cabernet sauvignons taste as incredible -- even from the beginning of their lives -- than in California. Here famous and soon-to-be-famous cabernet producers abound, especially in the small districts of Yountville, Oakville, Rutherford, Stag's Leap, St. Helena and Calistoga.

Founding wineries such as of Beaulieu, Inglenook, Charles Krug, Louis Martini and Robert Mondavi established a level of quality that solidified the Napa Valley as the greatest American wine region. This generation led the way for the next generation of Napa Valley producers who would raise the quality even higher, competing with -- and even surpassing -- the world's greatest wines. Chateau Montelena, Stag's Leap, Opus One, Shafer, Caymus, Silver Oak, Duckhorn, Spottswoode, and Dunn and Ridge (from the Santa Cruz Mountains) have competed on the world's greatest wine stages for decades. The success of rather large estates like these has spurred the movement of "boutique" or smaller production wines of extremely high quality such as Screaming Eagle, Harlan, Colgin, Bryant Family and Pride Mountain.

Cabernet sauvignon is also the primary grape varietal in the blends of the greatest wines in history ?those of Bordeaux, France. Here, cabernet wines are blended with merlot wines and reign legendary for their fantastic aging potential. These wines are also exceedingly special to me. Having enjoyed time as a visiting professional to the region on some 35 occasions, I consider them the epitome of cabernet sauvignon elegance!

From south to north in the region known as the Medoc are the famous and sleepy communes of Margaux and the iconic first growth Chateau Margaux itself; Saint-Julien has the great vineyard of Léoville and the wines of Léoville-Las Cases, Barton and Poyferre. Pauillac has the Pichons, Comtesse de Lalande and Longueville Baron, as well as the first growths of Chateau Latour, Chateau Lafite and Mouton Rothschild. Saint-Estèphe boasts the two great second growths of Château Cos d'Estournel and Chateau Montrose.

Very fine cabernet sauvignon also has an impressive heritage and is grown in Australia, South Africa, Chile and Argentina, as well other areas of France and California.