Wine & Spirits - April 2018 - 70

29th ANNUAL RESTAURANT POLL

CABERNET SAUVIGNON

Cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir have been fighting for top variety in
W&S's Annual Restaurant Poll for the last five years. Last year, cabernet took top honors among the most popular wines in US restaurants.
This year, pinot noir edges it out by less than a percentage point.
Still, of the most popular wines on respondents' lists in 2017, nearly
13 percent were cabernet sauvignon or cabernet-based. And seven of
the most popular brands overall are significant cabernet producers:
Cakebread, Caymus, Jordan, Duckhorn, Frank Family, Silver Oak and
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars.
In terms of brand visibility among American diners, cabernet
sauvignon has the upper hand. "Wine lists can be intimidating," says
Joshua Steiner of Carnevor in Milwaukee. "Guests gravitate to names
that are familiar. Our three best-selling cabs (Stag's Leap, Silver Oak
and Caymus) are consistently good, regardless of vintage. We don't
try to sell those wines: People have decided on those before they walk
through the door."
And where beef is involved, cabernet is still king. "We are very
much a traditional Texas steakhouse," says Bill Elsey of Pappas Bros.
Steakhouse in Houston, "and with their meals, people love the big
California cabs." At Mistral in Boston, David Borsman says diners are
"taking a deeper look at Chateau Montelena, Grgich Hills, Ridge-
you know, the guys that have been doing it for decades. I think as
people learn more about wine in general maybe they're starting to
think these aren't just brands, these are the originals for a reason and
they're still at it so there must be something to that."
There is also a significant interest in Bordeaux, which, sommeliers
are finding, can often come in at a better value than Napa cabernet
(the average price for the best-selling cabernets in our respondents'
restaurants is $104, $14 more than the average for pinot noir). "Bordeaux is making a comeback," says Nicole Hakli of NYC's Momofuku
Ssäm Bar, pointing to the 2011 Haut-Medoc, Les Allées de Cantemerle. "It's a great restaurant wine-it's food friendly, ready to drink,
at a friendly price point at $68 a bottle-and it's terrific with the duck
or pork shoulder ssam, or the wagyu beef."

In the $50 to $70 range, you'll
get better value out of Bordeaux
than Napa. You can find some fun
artisanal Côtes de Bordeaux or
Supérieur-family-made wines,
with a couple years of bottle age.
-Noah Singerman,
Husk, Charleston, SC

The international business crowd that comes
in wants the best of what the US has to offer,
so then we're dealing with Napa Valley and
cabernet sauvignon. They want to try California.
-Bill Elsey, Pappas Bros. Steakhouse, Houston

WINE & SPIRITS

APRIL 2018

MOST POPULAR CABERNET SAUVIGNONS
Rank Brand

Bottling

Avg. Price

1 Silver Oak Wine Cellars

Alexander Valley

$163

2 Caymus Vineyards

Napa Valley

$165

3 Justin

Paso Robles

$67

4 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars

Napa Valley Artemis

$118

5 Faust

Napa Valley

$104

6 Frank Family

Napa Valley

$108

7 Jordan Vineyards

Alexander Valley

$120

8 Hall

Napa Valley

9 Heitz Wine Cellars

Napa Valley
Napa Valley Trailside Vineyard

10 J. Lohr

Paso Robles Seven Oaks

$50

11 Duckhorn Vineyards

Napa Valley

$93

12 Obsidian Ridge

Red Hills Lake County

$57

13 St. Francis Vineyards

Sonoma County

$48

14 Mt. Veeder Winery

Napa Valley

$86

15 Opus One

Napa Valley Overture

$229

16 Darioush

Napa Valley

$243

17 Woodward Canyon

Columbia Valley Artist's Series

18 Corison

Napa Valley

19 Alexander Valley Vyds.

Alexander Valley

20 Turnbull

Napa Valley

$100

21 Sequoia Grove Vineyards

Napa Valley

$90

22 Leonetti Cellar

Columbia Valley

23 Louis Martini Winery

Napa Valley

$44

24 Chateau Montelena

Napa Valley

$119

25 Keenan

Spring Mountain

$52

26 Lewis

Napa Valley Mason's

$125

27 Snowden

Napa Valley Brothers Vineyard

$140

28 L'Ecole No. 41

Columbia Valley

$83
$143
$188

$93
$192
$49

$228

$68

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - April 2018