The medal-winning wines from the Global Cabernet Sauvignon Masters 2022

Following judging last month, we are able to reveal the full list of medal-winning wines from this year’s Global Cabernet Sauvignon Masters, featuring outstanding wines from Washington State to the Western Cape, and Sonoma to South Australia.

With a low-yielding habit, and thick-skinned berries, Cabernet Sauvignon is best-known for yielding dark, concentrated wines with a high tannin content. Such attributes, while appealing when sourcing a drop for a hearty dinner, are daunting when it’s 9am, and you have several samples to assess.

But this year’s entries for the Global Cabernet Masters did not prove tiring to taste. Rather, they were a delight, reflecting a shift in vineyard techniques and cellar handling to produce wines with less weight and extract, more freshness and softness.

That’s not to suggest the wines had moved away from what makes this grape distinctive and delicious – a result of its inherent cassis and cedar characters, and firm structure – but merely that such Cabernet qualities had been harnessed in a less heavy-handed manner.

And that wasn’t the only general observation drawn from a day’s tasting nothing but wines made from this grape, or at least dominated by it. Another conclusion concerned a different Cabernet trait: its preponderance to producing Pyrazines; that note of capsicum giving a green scent and a crunchy edge to the taste.

While past Masters have noted this character cropping up fairly commonly, in 2022’s samples, it was rare, and where greener notes were detected, it was most likely a subtle hint of leaf, dried mint, or eucalyptus – flavours that brought a coolness to the wine, rather than an unripe edge.

So, it seems Cabernet makers have, for the most part, struck an appealing middle ground in terms of fruit ripeness, power and structure with this famous, and widely-planted grape. Furthermore, we had some brilliant blends, with grapes from Merlot to Carmenère, Syrah and Cabernet Franc helping to add complexity, and, in some cases, providing a touch of mid-palate breadth to the Cabernet, that can, depending on where it’s grown, and how it’s handled, be a touch austere in isolation.

But what were the highlights from the competition? While this was mostly a tasting of Cabernets from beyond the boundaries of Europe, the top performers were from California and Australia, although there were some stars from South Africa, Argentina, and Chile – and within Europe, Turkey and Italy too.

If one were asked to pick out a couple of exceptional wines, they would, in my view, be a pair of bottles at either end of the price scale.

The first of these was the Casillero del Diablo Reserva Privada Cabernet Sauvignon: a brilliant example of Chile’s ability to craft polished reds at a keen price using Maipo Valley fruit. Featuring a seasoning of Syrah and Cabernet Franc, although more than 90% Cabernet, this wine had plenty of red and black fruit, a hint of spice, dried mint, cedar and chocolate, and texturally, a medium-weight appeal with a finely-tannic finish.

At the other end of the spectrum, our priciest wine of the tasting was also the best. At around £350, Penfolds Bin 707 is expensive, and a highly collectable label, and having tasted it blind, one can see why. A complete wine now, but with many years ahead of it, this youthful taste of a powerful wine brought smiles to the judges faces for its pure, intense, blackcurrant flavours, chocolate and coconut notes, and wonderful balance between ripeness and freshness, roundness and dryness. Truly, this was a Master of its type – and our best Cabernet of 2022.

Please see below for a list of all the medal-winning wines, starting with 100% Cabernets, and followed by blended versions, for which Cabernet is the dominant grape.