In his fabulous book "Adventures on the Wine Route," Kermit Lynch puts forth an interesting proposition:
"Cabernet flavors tend to dominate environmental factors ... [unlike] syrah, pinot and mourvedre, which express environmental factors. Except in rare cases, cabernet expresses only itself." A wine drinker quickly discerns that cabs from Bordeaux and Napa are different, but that might have more to do with winemaking style and climate than the grape itself. The flavor profile is roughly the same. But does that hold true with cabernets from the Southern Hemisphere? I tried three from separate countries in a roughly similar price range. The results: *Montes Classic Series Colchagua Valley Cab 2006 ($12) – There's a touch of spice and sweetness in this Chilean wine, making it smooth and quaffable but not transcendent. *Trapiche Broquel Mendoza Cab 2005 ($15) – This Argentinian brute bursts out of the glass with a big noseful of fruit and smoke and has almost explosive dark-berry flavors followed by a nice leathery finish. *Rust en Vrede Stellenbosch Cab 2004 ($24) – European emigres launched South Africa's wine industry, which might explain why this dusty, dark-cherry-laden red has an Old World feel to it, that "dirt" that is rarely found in wines from the Americas or Down Under. The winner: Trapiche, for best value, best overall wine and best amalgam of New and Old World styles. The verdict on Lynch's theory: still unresolved.
