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48 WINES&VINES June 2018 WINEMAKING C abernet Sauvignon is the most popu- lar red varietal wine with consumers and critics and the grape is expected to soon surpass Chardonnay as Cali- fornia's leading wine grape variety by tonnage and acreage. In light of the varietal's dominance, four different Cabernet wines at four different price points were dissected in a tasting and panel discussion at the Unified Wine & Grape Sym- posium earlier this year. The session included presentations by the vineyard manager and winemaker responsible for four wines. Moderating the session was Chris Munsell, director of winemaking for E. & J. Gallo Win- ery's premium wine program. Munsell said when he "was a wee lad in the winemaking world" a marketing executive told him for any wine to be successful it needed to be of good quality, known by consumers and profitable for everyone involved. He said no other varietal or red blend has received as many 100- point scores as Cabernet Sauvi- gnon and its popularity and profitability are obvious by the grape's place in the wine industry. When Munsell was introducing the panel he said he would not be surprised if Cab had outpaced Chardonnay in terms of total pro- duction in the 2017 vintage, but when the California crush report came out about a month later, Chardonnay had held on to its top spot, barely. Growers harvested 614,565 tons of Chardonnay and 601,473 tons of Cabernet. Both varieties had a 14% share of the state's total wine grape harvest. "Cabernet Sauvignon is also in a unique position where you see wines from from 7 to 8 bucks a bottle all the way up to 700 or 800 bucks a bottle and everything in between. Very few other varietals have that scope," Munsell said. At $13 consistency is key Evan Schiff oversees winemaking of Francis Ford Coppola Winery's Diamond line of wines that includes 13 different varietals, two of them being Cabernets. He presented the 2014 Ivory Cabernet with a retail price of $12.99 that is sourced from a Lodi AVA vineyard man- aged by Vino Farms. Craig Ledbetter, vice president and partner at Vino Farms, said a portion of the grapes for the Ivory label Cab are from a vineyard on the easternmost edge of the Lodi AVA in the sub- appellation of Borden Ranch. The vineyard was planted in 1990 and cultivated with bi-lateral spur until 2009 when it was transitioned for mechanical minimal pruning. Ledbetter said that change was not in- tended to save money or increase production but simply to get it pruned in a timely way. He KEY POINTS At lower prices, creating uniformity and consistency is paramount. At higher prices, winemaking is minimalist while vineyard work increases. At all price points, extraction is carefully monitored and controlled. Producing Cabernet Wines at Different Price Points Winemakers dissect the varietal from high-volume production to small-lot wines By Andrew Adams Cabernet grapes undergo a cold soak of about a week prior to fermentation in the cellar of Lede Family Wines.