Ruby Cabernet is a red Olmo grape variety that is a cross between

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebano ...

and

Carignan Carignan (; also known as Mazuelo, Bovale Grande, Cariñena, Carinyena, Samsó, Carignane, and Carignano) is a red grape variety of Spanish origin that is more commonly found in French wine but is widely planted throughout the western Medite ...

. It can produce wines with good color and a pleasant cherry flavor, but is mostly blended into bulk wines.Robinson, Jancis ''Vines, Grapes & Wines'' Mitchell Beazley 1986 The purpose for the creation of the crossing of the

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...

varieties utilized to produce Ruby Cabernet was to obtain the superior quality of a Cabernet wine, and the resistance to heat of the Carignan combined in an inexpensive

table wine Table wine (rarely abbreviated TW) is a wine term with two different meanings: a style of wine and a quality level within wine classification. In the United States, the term primarily designates a wine style: an ordinary wine which is not fort ...

. Even though the wine made from these grapes does not possess the distinctive flavor and the overall structure of other types of Cabernet wines, it does carry their fruitful essence. The grape for this type of red wine was developed for California's hot climate, specially for regions such as the San Joaquin and the Napa Valleys. Ruby Cabernet has improved the quality of the bulk wines produced in these areas thanks to its natural, special acidity.

History

Ruby Cabernet is a cross between Cabernet Sauvignon and Carignan created in 1936 by Dr Harold Olmo at

UC Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The intention was to combine Carignan's heat tolerance with Cabernet Sauvignon's quality, like the

Cinsaut Cinsaut or Cinsault ( , ) is a red wine grape whose heat tolerance and productivity make it important in Languedoc-Roussillon and the former French colonies of Algeria, Lebanon, and Morocco. It is often blended with grapes such as Grenache an ...

Pinot noir Pinot noir (), also known as Pinot nero, is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name also refers to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words fo ...

cross that led to Pinotage a few years previously.

Wine regions

Argentina

A little is grown in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

for blending into bulk wines.

Australia

Small amounts are grown in the Hunter Valley and Murray-Darling area, disappearing into undistinguished blends. However, a few producers take the variety seriously. Andrew McPherson in Victoria uses the variety in several export wines f.x Full Fifteen exported to England and Denmark.

Brazil

Vale do São Francisco winery in

Pernambuco Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...

, Brazilian Northeast region, successfully grows the variety and produces the wine Botticelli Coleção Ruby Cabernet. Vinícola Campos de Cima in Itaqui, Campanha Gaúcha, grows the grape and produces a 100% varietal of the wine Ruby Cabernet.

Mexico

Valle De Guadalupe, Baja California (near Ensenada) produces a very nice variety and quality wines. Included is Cabernet Franc - Malbec/Ruby Cabernet. Aguascalientes is also another wine region where wines with this grape are produced.

Chile

Some Ruby Cabernet is supposedly grown in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, but few wines will admit to it on the label.

Israel

A little Ruby Cabernet is used by the Tishbi winery in Zichron Ya'akov. Some 17 tons were harvested in 2012.

South Africa

For a while, Ruby Cabernet was thought to hold a lot of promise for the hotter regions of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, but in practice problems with fruit set have limited its success. It is successfully grown in the Robertson district, and forms the main ingredient of the Van Loveren "River Red" blend.

Spain

Several DOs on the Islas Canarias feature Ruby Cabernet in their authorized list of grape varieties including DO Lanzarote, Tacoronte-Acentejo, Valle de Güímar, and Valle de la Orotava.

United States

Ruby Cabernet is mostly planted in

, particularly in the San Joaquin Valley where it adds color and backbone to bulk wines. Vineyards where farming techniques are employed to maximize quality however can produce wines with exceptional aroma, flavor, and mouth feel.

Vine and Viticulture

The vine is very drought resistant, and stands up well to high winds. Poor fruit set has been a problem in South Africa, and it is vulnerable to powdery mildew. In California's San Joaquin Valley, vineyards should limit irrigation, thin crop, and expose fruit to the sun to maximize wine quality.

Vineyard ground

The

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

s on which grapes for Ruby Cabernet are grown, are seat on vigorous grounds filled with deep clay

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–si ...

. The canopies on these vineyards are usually quite open and not completely established. The spacing below the vineyard row is normally of about seven to eight feet for optimal vertical shoot positioning. In case of vineyards which are

quadrilateral In Euclidean geometry, geometry a quadrilateral is a four-sided polygon, having four Edge (geometry), edges (sides) and four Vertex (geometry), corners (vertices). The word is derived from the Latin words ''quadri'', a variant of four, and ''l ...

and divided in a horizontal way, the space must be of about six to seven feet.University of California
"Ruby Cabernet Viticulture"
2010-03-05. Clare Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

References

{{Wines Red wine grape varieties