Principal red grape

Cabernet Sauvignon

kah-bair-NEH soh-vee-NYOHN
How to read this

Capitals mark the stressed syllable. “ohn” is a nasal vowel: say it through the nose, with no n. “ny” is the ny in “canyon”. The French r comes from the back of the throat. The recording is the reference.

Cabernet Sauvignon is a black grape that DNA markers show is a cross of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc: the Médoc’s great grape, and 22% of Bordeaux’s red vineyard in 2020.

Cabernet Sauvignon is a small-berried black grape, and its parents are known. In 1997 John Bowers and Carole Meredith, of the University of California, Davis, compared it with Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc at 30 DNA markers and found, at every one, the pattern of a child of those two; among the 51 grapes they tested, no other pair could be the parents. In their paper in Nature Genetics they called the white parent “a surprise”. Which parent was the mother they left open. They judged the cross most likely a chance one, between red and white vines growing side by side, as mixed vineyards once were.

The name is older than the science. The earliest record in my library comes secondhand: Auguste Petit-Lafitte, professor of agriculture of the Gironde, in La vigne dans le Bordelais (1868), reports a catalog sent in 1784 by the subdelegation of Pauillac to the intendant Dupré de Saint-Maur, naming “the little Cavernet-sauvignon and the big Cavernet-Sauvignon” (“le petit-Cavernet-sauvignon et le gros Cavernet-Sauvignon”). The grape geneticist José Vouillamoz cites a “Petit Cabernet”, most likely this grape, in the account book of Antoine Feuilhade in 1763. In 1855 Armand d’Armailhacq, a Médoc proprietor, in his book on the vines and wines of the Médoc, called it “certainly the most esteemed grape in the Médoc” (“certainement le cepage le plus estimé en Médoc”).

Then came the grafted vineyard. Phylloxera was found on vine roots at Floirac, near Bordeaux, on June 11, 1869, and the Gironde replanted on American rootstocks. In 1893 Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, recorded at Château Loudenne that “almost all the new plantings” were Cabernet Sauvignon grafted on riparia and solonis (“Presque toutes les plantations nouvelles”). In 1922 the same guide called it the grape “that one may call the first of the red grapes of the Gironde” (“qu'on peut appeler le premier des cépages rouges de la Gironde”), spreading “every day further in our plantings of grafted American vines” (“se répand tous les jours davantage dans nos plantations en américains greffés”).

Its modern figures move more slowly. In the Gironde its area grew from 1988 to 2005 and then declined, while it stayed the department’s second black grape, according to Agreste, the statistics service of the French agriculture ministry, writing in 2020; over 1988 to 2018 the net change was a loss of 888 hectares. In 2020 it held 22% of Bordeaux’s red vineyard, second to Merlot, by the figures of the CIVB, the Bordeaux wine council.

Oldest record in my library: the 1784 Pauillac catalog for the intendant Dupré de Saint-Maur, as Auguste Petit-Lafitte reported in La vigne dans le Bordelais, 1868 (in another passage he dates the same catalog to 1781)

The family

Cabernet Franc shown by DNA markers

Sauvignon Blanc shown by DNA markers

Cabernet Sauvignon

Arinarnoa shown by DNA markers

Marselan shown by DNA markers

  • Bowers & Meredith 1997, Nature Genetics 16:84-87; VIVC 1929
  • ENTAV-ITV catalog 2007; Lacombe et al. 2013; VIVC 599
  • VIVC 16383 marker pedigree (breeder record agrees)

The discovery: In 1997, John Bowers and Carole Meredith showed with 30 DNA markers that Cabernet Sauvignon is a cross of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. In 2025 a study of its whole genome assigned each of its 2 sets of chromosomes to one of these parents (Cochetel et al., Genome Biology 26:392). VIVC, the international catalog of vine varieties, also records an older hypothesis, from Regner et al. (2001), that names Cabernet Franc and leaves the second parent unknown. A 2026 self-published preprint argues that the Sauvignon parent was the pink-skinned Sauvignon Gris; it has not been peer reviewed or tested by others. Sauvignon Gris is a color mutation of Sauvignon Blanc. Neither the 1997 study nor the 2025 genome study tested which of the 2 color forms was the parent.

The names

As the Gironde books wrote it: petit cabernet, vidure-sauvignone, Vidure-Sauvignonne, vuidure sauvignonne, petite vigne dure, petit-Cavernet-sauvignon, Bouchet-Sauvignon, Petit Bouchet, bouschet-sauvignon, Marchoupet, Carbouet.

Other names in VIVC: Bidure, Bouchet, Bouchet Sauvignon, Bouschet Sauvignon, Carmenet, Enfin, Epicier Noir, Lafite, Marchoupet, Menut, Navarre, Petit Bouchet, Petit Cabernet, Petit Cavernet Sauvignon.

Old names: Bouchet (open), Breton (open), Cabernet (open), Carbouet (open), Carmenet (open), Parde (open), Vidure (open)

In today’s rules

Principal (red) in 30 of the appellations and designations on this site; principal (rosé) in 1; principal (sparkling) in 1.

Principal · red
Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux, Bordeaux (red and clairet), Bordeaux Supérieur, Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux, Canon Fronsac, Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux, Côtes de Bordeaux, Côtes de Bourg, Entre-deux-Mers, Francs Côtes de Bordeaux, Fronsac, Graves, Graves de Vayres, Haut-Médoc, Lalande-de-Pomerol, Listrac-Médoc, Lussac-Saint-Émilion, Margaux, Montagne-Saint-Émilion, Moulis, Médoc, Pauillac, Pessac-Léognan, Pomerol, Puisseguin-Saint-Émilion, Saint-Estèphe, Saint-Georges-Saint-Émilion, Saint-Julien, Saint-Émilion, Sainte-Foy Côtes de Bordeaux
Principal · rosé
Bordeaux
Principal · sparkling
Crémant de Bordeaux

Area planted

  • 22% share of red-variety area, Bordeaux vineyard (CIVB), 2020
    CIVB, Bordeaux Key Facts 2021 (data labeled 'Signature grapes (2020 data)'), PDF hosted at https://www.about-drinks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/CIVB-Bordeaux-Key-Facts-2021_09.pdf, accessed 2026-10-12
  • 37,372 ha planted area, France, 2024
    FranceAgriMer, Les chiffres-clés de la filière viti-vinicole 2024 (December 2025 edition), p. 11 'Les principaux cépages plantés en 2024', source printed: DGDDI, déclarations de plantation au 31/07/2025 (CVI), https://www.franceagrimer.fr/sites/default/files/2025-12/20251121_CC%20VITI%20VINICOLE%20%202025.pdf, accessed 2026-10-12

In the books

“There was a plot of it [verdot] at Lafite, removed a short time ago because it yielded very little; it has been planted instead with cabernet-sauvignon.”

il y en avait une pièce à La fi te, que Ton a détruite il y a peu de temps, parce qu'il produisait fort peu ; on l'a remplacé par du cabernet-sauvignon

La fi te [sic], La culture des vignes : la vinification et les vins dans le Médoc avec un état des vignobles d'après leur réputation, 1855, p. 55

“They [the wines] are made almost entirely from cabernet-sauvignon, and stand out for great richness of sap, great finesse, and long keeping.”

ils sont presque exclusivement' produits par le cabernet-sauvignon, et se distinguent par une grande richesse de sève, une grande finesse et une longue tenue.

crû de Mouton, Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite (Troisième édition, refondue et augmentée) / Ch. Cocks, 1874, p. 160, note 1

“Almost all the new plantings have been made in cabernet-sauvignon grafted on riparia and solonis.”

Presque toutes les plantations nouvelles ont été faites en cabernet - sauvi- gnon greffé sur riparia et solonis

Château-Loudenne, Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite (6e éd.) (1893), 1893

“The grapes planted are cabernet-sauvignon for 70%, and cabernet franc, verdot, carmenère, and malbec for the rest.”

Les cépages plantés sont : le cabernet - sauvignon pour 70 % , le cabernet franc , le verdot , la carmenère et le malbec pour le surplus

Château d'Arsac (colline de Monteil), Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite (9e éd.) (1922), 1922

My library records it planted at 209 estates, and 40 of them have a page here:

Timeline

  1. 1763'Petit Cabernet' is recorded in the livre de raison of Antoine Feuilhade (again in 1777).
    José Vouillamoz, 'The Powerful Potentates of the Grape World: Noiriens and Carmenets' (Wine Scholar Guild lecture slides), September 17, 2023
  2. 1784'Petit cavernet sauvignon' appears in the catalog of Dupré de Saint-Maur at Pauillac, the first record of the name.
    José Vouillamoz, 'The Powerful Potentates of the Grape World: Noiriens and Carmenets' (Wine Scholar Guild lecture slides), September 17, 2023
  3. 1840The spelling 'Cabernet Sauvignon' is in use.
    José Vouillamoz, 'The Powerful Potentates of the Grape World: Noiriens and Carmenets' (Wine Scholar Guild lecture slides), September 17, 2023
  4. 1869Phylloxera is found on vine roots at Floirac, near Bordeaux, on June 11, 1869; the vines had looked sick for 2 or 3 years.
    Charles Cocks & Édouard Féret, Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite, 5th ed., 1886, section 'Phylloxera', p. 35 (same text in the 1883 English ed., and 6th ed. 1893)
  5. 1997DNA analysis shows Cabernet Sauvignon is a cross of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc.
    John E. Bowers & Carole P. Meredith, 'The parentage of a classic wine grape, Cabernet Sauvignon', Nature Genetics 16: 84-87, 1997
  6. 2005In the Gironde, Cabernet Sauvignon area grows from 1988 to 2005, then declines, but stays the second black variety.
    Agreste Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Études n°7 (June 2020, rectificatif), p. 73 text, https://draaf.nouvelle-aquitaine.agriculture.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/AgresteNAEtudes_7juin2020_FFvitiGironde_RECTIFICATIF_cle0edc51.pdf, accessed 2026-10-12
  7. 2020Cabernet Sauvignon holds 22% of the red-variety area in Bordeaux.
    CIVB, Bordeaux Key Facts 2021 (data labeled 'Signature grapes (2020 data)'), PDF hosted at https://www.about-drinks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/CIVB-Bordeaux-Key-Facts-2021_09.pdf, accessed 2026-10-12

In the lab

More than 6,841 studies and theses in the Bordeaux Reviews library mention this grape.

Sources

  • John E. Bowers & Carole P. Meredith, 'The parentage of a classic wine grape, Cabernet Sauvignon', Nature Genetics 16: 84-87, 1997 (pp. 84-85: 30 microsatellite loci, 51 cultivars, 'a surprise', no direction implied, spontaneous cross likely)
  • Röckel et al. (2026): Vitis International Variety Catalogue, www.vivc.de, passport id 1929, accessed October 2026
  • Auguste Petit-Lafitte, La vigne dans le Bordelais, Paris, J. Rothschild, 1868 (title page: 'Professeur d'agriculture du dép. de Gironde') (1784 Pauillac catalog, p. 449)
  • José Vouillamoz, 'The Powerful Potentates of the Grape World: Noiriens and Carmenets' (Wine Scholar Guild lecture slides), September 17, 2023 (Petit Cabernet, livre de raison of Antoine Feuilhade, 1763 and 1777)
  • Armand d'Armailhacq, La culture des vignes, la vinification et les vins dans le Médoc, 1855, ch. 2
  • Charles Cocks & Édouard Féret, Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite, 5th ed., 1886, 'Phylloxera', p. 35
  • Charles Cocks (rev. Édouard Féret), Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite, 3rd ed., 1874, p. 160, note 1 (Mouton)
  • Charles Cocks & Édouard Féret, Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite, 6th ed., 1893 (Château-Loudenne)
  • Charles Cocks & Édouard Féret, Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite, 9th ed., 1922, Ampélographie, p. 8 and Château d'Arsac
  • Agreste Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Études n°7 (June 2020, rectificatif), C. Lavaud and J. Bonotaux, '1. Le foncier viticole: la Gironde', p. 73 text and Figure 2, https://draaf.nouvelle-aquitaine.agriculture.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/AgresteNAEtudes_7juin2020_FFvitiGironde_RECTIFICATIF_cle0edc51.pdf, accessed October 2026
  • CIVB, Bordeaux Key Facts 2021 ('Signature grapes (2020 data)'), https://www.about-drinks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/CIVB-Bordeaux-Key-Facts-2021_09.pdf, accessed October 2026
  • Cochetel, N. et al., Genome Biology 26:392 (2025)
  • Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC), Cabernet Sauvignon (variety number 1929), passport and 'Pedigree confirmed by markers' pages, read October 12, 2026; second hypothesis: Regner, F., Eisenheld, C., Kaserer, H., Stadlbauer, A., 'Weitere Sortenanalysen bei Rebe mittels genetischer Marker', Mitteilungen Klosterneuburg 51 (2001) 3-14
  • Khan, F. S. et al., 'Haplotype-resolved T2T gap-free genomes of the winegrape cultivar Cabernet Sauvignon', Scientific Data 13:545 (2026), doi 10.1038/s41597-026-06910-3
  • Rodrigues, J. A., 'Revisiting the Parentage of Cabernet Sauvignon: Berry Colour Locus Haplotypes Support a Sauvignon gris Lineage', ResearchGate preprint, not peer reviewed (2026), doi 10.13140/RG.2.2.10848.03840/20
  • Röckel et al. (2026): Vitis International Variety Catalogue, www.vivc.de, accessed October 2026

Every grape

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