17 Best Cabernet Sauvignons in 2023 [From Cheap to Wow!]
Cabernet Sauvignon originates from France and is the world's most popular red wine, today it is produced in nearly every winemaking region.
A pure Cabernet is fruit-forward with intense black fruit notes, typically barrel aged beyond 12 months to accentuate dusty tannins and oak.
However, the beauty of Cabernet lies in its blending ability, which opens the door to unique creations. Bordeaux and variation blends offer red fruit, tobacco, and earth notes, without sacrificing the dark fruits you love.
In this wine guide we uncover 17 of the very best Cabernet Sauvignons, covering the spectrum of price tags – we recommend great wine starting at $15 right up to $500.
17) 2019 Vina Robles Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
I'll start my list of incredible Cab with a nice warm up bottle at $22.
The 2019 Vina Robles Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is an 84% Cabernet Sauvignon and 16% Petit Verdot blend, aged for 20 months in new and old oak. It's a dense and chewy Cabernet with roasted boysenberry, allspice, and oak notes.
The nose bursts with cassis, tobacco, and oak, with hints of vanilla and violet. Flavors of dark fruit, plum, lashings of cherry, and warm cedar give it a complex but nicely balanced profile.
I love this wine's robust structure. It has tannin and acidity to hold up to quite strongly flavored food. There's great balance here too and the acidity never overstays its welcome.
Rich and approachable, this Cabernet is an affordable crowd-pleaser. Pair it with ribeye, short ribs, lasagna, burgers, and lamb souvlaki.
If this price bracket is one that appeals then don't miss our guide to great Cab for less than $30.
16) 2018 Mt. Brave Cabernet Sauvignon
In my opinion, the Mt. Brave Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the best bottles of Cab you can buy, period.
The previous vintages were incredible but the 2018 season had unusually late winter rains and cloud cover with a hot summer, producing grapes without such a high sugar concentration.
What we have here is a wine crafted by a really knowledgeable winemaking team using grapes that just don't come around in Napa very often.
It tastes great now but if you've got the patience to cellar this for a few years, then be sure to invite me round when you open it!
It's a blend of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6.5% Cabernet Franc, 3% Merlot, 1.5% Petit Verdot, and 1% Malbec, aged for 22 months in oak. The nose and palate are heavy on crème de cassis, baked plums, anise, and cocoa.
It has a jam-like quality, with dense, chewy tannins and a plush structure. It's perfect with prime rib, lamb cutlets, and other fatty meats.
15) 2019 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Artemis Cabernet Sauvignon
Another classic Napa Cab, this is for those that love their chocolate, cherry, and plum notes in their reds.
A blend of 99.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and .5% Cabernet Franc, it's aged for 15 months, which is relatively short for a quality Cab, but don't be fooled - it still packs lots of depth!
The nose offers mouth-watering baked plum, crushed raspberry, olive, and cocoa notes. The palate adds structured tannins with cedar and spice, with lashings of oak, vanilla, and blackberry.
It's hard to imagine a finer fruity Cabernet than the Artemis, especially for the price. Pair it with oxtail, venison, ostrich, and game birds.
14) 2018 Haras de Pirque Hussonet Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon
I promised some outstanding Cab (and so far I think I've delivered) but for this to be a definitive guide it's important to cover the whole price spectrum.
Now, this doesn't have quite the depth nor complexity of the last couple of Napa recommendations, but, it's a darn fine bottle for just $15!
This bonafide Gran Reserva is one of Haras de Pirque's finest Cabernets. It blends 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Carménère, and 4% Merlot, aged for 12 months in French oak and a further 12 months in the bottle before sale.
Twenty-four months of aging gives this Cabernet incredible richness. Violet, cassis, chocolate, and hints of mint provide a delectable bouquet, with the palate adding doses of earth, sage, and baked plum. It has a very long finish with sharp tannins.
The rich spiciness of this Cabernet matches perfectly with foods served with sweet sauces like glazed ribs, burgers, and pizza with dipping sticks.
For more great Cab in this price bracket, don't miss our ultimate guide to Cab under $20.
13) 2018 Dunn Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon
This is a wine that lives long in the memory, and you'd hope so too at that price! This is really high quality winemaking and when it comes to Cab and doesn't really get much better. A real treat that might change your perception of what you once thought good wine tasted like.
Aged for 32 months in 100% new French oak, the 2018 Dunn Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon is inky, dark, and oozing with depth. Dusty tannins, cedary oak, and stewed black fruit define this prestigious Cabernet.
The wine is produced with Howell Mountain and Coombsville grapes from premium vineyards. Black cherry, lavender, chocolate, sage, and cloves provide a delicious nose, with loci rice, violet, oak, and anise on the palate.
Despite the extended aging, this is a juicy and ripe wine with a bright finish. It goes a treat with smoked meats, meatballs, and pink lamb.
It tastes great now but to experience it at its finest you probably want to cellar this for another few years.
12) 2019 Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour Private Reserve
The 2019 Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour Private Reserve spends 20 months in 95% new French oak barrels. Smooth tannins, graphite notes, and a spicy profile make this wine a top choice if you enjoy an easy-going, dusky Cab.
The nose has blackcurrant, graphite, wet earth, and clove notes. Take a sip, and the palate opens with plum and raspberry, leading to vanilla, cedar, and earth. Earth and herbs on the mid-palate turn into cocoa and black cherry on the finish.
Being a Private Reserve, this wine is specially chosen for its flavor and depth. It's best on its own or with premium cuts like prime rib and lamb cutlets.
If you have a taste for pricey wine, you'll love our guide to the most expensive wines in the world!
12) 2019 Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour Private Reserve
The 2019 Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour Private Reserve spends 20 months in 95% new French oak barrels. Smooth tannins, graphite notes, and a spicy profile make this wine a top choice if you enjoy an easy-going, dusky Cab.
The nose has blackcurrant, graphite, wet earth, and clove notes. Take a sip, and the palate opens with plum and raspberry, leading to vanilla, cedar, and earth. Earth and herbs on the mid-palate turn into cocoa and black cherry on the finish.
Being a Private Reserve, this wine is specially chosen for its flavor and depth. It's best on its own or with premium cuts like prime rib and lamb cutlets.
11) 2019 Duckhorn Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
An absolute Napa classic, this wine just makes me happy. Beautifully rich with robust oak, cassis, and cherry notes, the 2019 Duckhorn should be at the top of your list for something unique.
It's made up of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot, blending fruit from estate vineyards across the Napa Valley. The wine then spends 16 months in 100% French oak.
The nose opens with red and blackcurrant, quince, and sweet tobacco, with oak, anise, pepper, and baked plum on the palate.
We love this Cabernet Sauvignon with steak and mushrooms, stuffed bell peppers, roasted vegetables, and kebab skewers.
Keep an eye open for this at your local Costco store. If you're lucky you might catch it for around $60. Don't miss our guide to Costco Cab after this!
10) 2019 Quilt Cabernet Sauvignon
Vanilla, chocolate, red fruit, and blackberry notes dominate the nose and palate of Quilt Cabernet Sauvignon.
Quilt' is Joe Wagner's Napa Valley winery, renowned for producing full-bodied, supple Cabernets with excellent structure.
Quilt Cabernet Sauvignon pours deep garnet with lush aromas of cassis, dark cherry, eucalyptus, and crushed violet. The palate brings swathes of dark berries, dried apricot, and coca, with a touch of sage wrapped up in velvety tannins.
Smooth and thoroughly enjoyable, this is a fantastic Cabernet for sipping. It also pairs well with braised short rib and steak with mashed potatoes.
You can usually find this at your local Target store. If you shop at Target, you'll love our guide to their best wine.
9) 2019 Justin Wine Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon
The Justin Wine Paso Robles Cab is produced with hand-harvested grapes and aged for 14 months in small oak barrels.
It's full-bodied with spicy notes of vanilla and clove, a touch of cinnamon, and ripe black cherry flavors.
This wine pours deep ruby red with a twinge of pink on the rim. It's highly aromatic, with black cherry, tart raspberry, vanilla, and a little oak on the nose. The palate has silky tannins, baking spice, toasted oak, and forest floor flavors.
Remarkably fresh and inviting, this Cabernet is a crowd-pleaser. Try it with filet mignon, grilled chicken, and burgers.
It's stocked in most Safeway stores. Discover which other Safeway wines we recommend in our dedicated guide.
8) 2018 Louis M. Martini Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon
The Louis M. Martini's Cabernet is a fantastic tipple for $20. It delivers bold, fresh notes of blackberry, blueberry, and red plum, with hints of sage and baking spice, spending around 16 months in oak to develop rich tannins.
Pour a glass, and you are greeted by a bouquet of blackberry, forest floor, and cinnamon, with a hint of plum. The flavor profile is dense, with cherry, dark fruit, pepper, blueberry, and vanilla notes. It has a long, arid finish.
Sausages with polenta, hamburgers, pizza, spaghetti, and braised short ribs are ideal food pairings for this excellent Cabernet.
You can grab this at your local Kroger store. If you shop at Kroger, don't miss our wine guide!
7) 2019 Austin Hope Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon
If you have $50 to spend on a bottle of Cabernet, then this is it! I really don't think anything else can match this and some wine costing twice the price doesn't taste this good.
It's 100% Cabernet but blends grapes from different lots, each aged in new, once-used, and old French oak barrels to produce a really complex wine.
Delightfully full-bodied with chewy tannins and an ultra-smooth mouthfeel, this Cabernet excites the nose and palate with potent vanilla, oak, chocolate, tobacco, blackberry, plum, and smoke notes, with minimal earth.
If you love a pure Cabernet from France, this Californian wine is a delightful interpretation with additional smoothness. Best with pink lamb and braised beef.
The 2019 vintage is becoming hard to find but the 2020 expression is excellent too.
You can buy it now on wine.com or vivino.com.
6) 2019 Orin Swift Papillon
Not only does Orin Swift Papillon 2019 have the highest ABV on our list, but it is also the most interesting five-varietal Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot, Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Franc.
It pours neon crimson with an elegant bouquet. Aromas of blackberry, kirsch, coastal sage, and vanilla aromas translate to the palate, with plum, blackcurrant, toasted oak, and red fruit on the mid-palate with a long, dry finish steeped in tannins.
This wine is aged for only 13 months in French oak, so it is sharper but less chewy than most others. This makes it perfect with lean meats.
5) 2020 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon
Honestly, $80 is a lot of money but it's pretty good value for this wine. You can easily pay over $100 for similar quality. In fact, I was recently in the UK and I saw it for £120 which is almost $150.
I chose the 2020 vintage as it's a bit easier to find, but the earlier vintages are arguably better. This is one that will definitely improve with age too.
The 2020 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon is a vibrant, youthful wine aged for 16 months in French oak. It's a giant fruit bomb with intense blackberry, blueberry, and cherry notes, offering a little oak and chocolate on the mid-palate.
It pours scarlet red with powerful blackberry and cherry aromas, with hints of oak, cedar, allspice, and sage.
The palate is warming and dense, with notes of molasses, blackberry jam, graphite, and a touch of tobacco and cocoa.
I love this wine's long finish topped with leather and minerals. It's perfect with turkey, grilled chicken, veal, and venison stew.
4) 2019 Pine Ridge Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
$60 in your pocket is well spent on Pine Ridge's Cabernet, whose fistfuls of ripe blueberries and freshly sharpened graphite provide a wonderfully taut palate. It's aged 18 months in 30% new American and 70% neutral French oak barrels.
This 100% Cabernet impresses with its deep garnet color and inviting bouquet of blueberry, spiced plum, baking spices, and vanilla. It captures the palate with pie crust notes, blackberry jam, anise, and black licorice.
Fruity flavors, dusty tannins, baked goodness, and a medium-full mouthfeel make this wine effortlessly drinkable. Pair it with pork loin and game birds.
3) 2018 Corte Medicea Eklektós Cabernet Sauvignon
It's definitely been a slightly US biased guide to Cabernet Sauvignon (and for that I'm sure I'll pay in the comments section) but at #3 is a big favorite of mine from Tuscany.
At just $26, it's an absolute steal! Buy this and keep it for a few years and you'll have a truly exceptional wine on your hands.
Dark, mysterious, and intense, Corte Medicea Eklektós Cabernet Sauvignon is a mocha, chocolate, and plum delight. It's an authentic Toscana Cabernet, highly concentrated with layered flavors and silky-smooth tannins.
It pours deep ruby red with an oaky bouquet with rich blackberry, plum, cherry, and fig aromas. Blueberry, raspberry, sage, and stewed plum flavors make it irresistible, but the smooth mouthfeel and tannins steal the show.
This wine pairs beautifully with aged cheeses, game, red meat, hearty stews, lamb hotpot, and any dishes seasoned with thyme.
2) Austin Hope Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
We just mentioned an amazing Austin Hope Cab at #7 and here at #2 we have another.
The Reserve is Austin Hope's most prized high-end Cabernet Sauvignon, produced with blended lots that have seen over 24 months in oak. With exciting results, it pushes the boundaries for tannins, depth, and flavors.
Dark in the glass, this wine is incredibly ripe following years of decantation and aging. The nose has blueberry, burnt toffee, cocoa, baking spice, and sage notes, with the palate bringing vanilla bean, clove, and earth to the fore.
The mid-palate bursts with blackberry, cherry, plum, and baking spices, creating a fruity yet dense wine with bags of character. A perfect pairing for prime rib.
1) 2018 Darioush Darius II Cabernet Sauvignon
Darioush Darius II is one of the highest-rated Cabernets in the world, with no expense spared with oak, time, and terroir.
It is a blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Cabernet Franc, with grapes from the prestigious appellations of Apadana Block at Darioush Estate and the Sage Vineyard at Mount Veeder. The wine is aged 22 months in Taransaud Chateau Traditional French oak.
The nose and palate burst with vibrant cassis, black fruits, minerals, and sage, with roasted coffee, molasses, and sugar plum on the mid-palate. The finish is an exciting blend of brown sugar, toast, and red fruit.
Darius II is so good it's best on its own or alongside fine dishes like wagyu, prime rib, steak au poivre, and fine smoked meats.
So, is this the best Cabernet Sauvignon of all? Possibly, probably, maybe... I'll leave that up to you!
Of course, we've all got our own idea of what the greatest Cab is so I'd love to hear about yours in the comments section. Let's continue this list of incredible Cab!
