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

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 Canada's Okanagan Valley to Lebanon's Beqaa Valley...

 and Carignan, it can produce wines with good colour and a pleasant cherry flavour, but is mostly blended into bulk wines.

The purpose for the creation of the crossing of the grape

Grape

A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...

 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

Table wine is a wine term with two different meanings: a wine style; and a quality level within wine classification.In the United States, table wine primarily designates a wine style - ordinary wine which is neither fortified nor sparkling....

. 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

San Joaquin Valley

The San Joaquin Valley is the area of the Central Valley of California that lies south of the Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta in Stockton...

 and the Napa

Napa County, California

Napa County is a county located north of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is coterminous with the Napa, California, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010 the population is 136,484. The county seat is 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

Harold Olmo

Dr. Harold Olmo was a pioneering viticulturalist and professor at the University of California, Davis where he created many new grape varieties known today as Olmo grapes. In the 1950s, he helped to establish California's first quarantine facility on the UC-Davis campus to permit California...

 at UC Davis in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

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

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 and Morocco...

 x Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir

Pinot noir is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...

 cross that led to Pinotage

Pinotage

Pinotage is a red wine grape that is South Africa's signature variety. It was bred there in 1925 as a cross between Pinot noir and Cinsaut...

 a few years previously.

Argentina

A little is grown in Argentina

Argentine wine

The Argentine wine industry is the fifth largest producer of wine in the world. Argentine wine, as with some aspects of Argentine cuisine, has its roots in Spain...

, for instance Viñedo de los Vientos blend it with Tannat

Tannat

Tannat is a red wine grape, historically grown in South West France in the Madiran AOC and is now one of the most prominent grapes in Uruguay, where it is considered the "national grape". It is also grown in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Peru, and in Italy's Puglia region where it is used as a...

.

Australia

Small amounts are grown in the Hunter Valley and Murray-Darling region, disappearing into nondescript 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.

Chile

Some Ruby Cabernet is supposedly grown in Chile, but few wines will admit to it on the label.

South Africa

For a while Ruby Cabernet was thought to hold a lot of promise for the hotter regions of South Africa, but in practice problems with fruit set have limited its success.

USA

Ruby Cabernet is mostly planted in California, particularly in the San Joaquin Valley where it adds colour 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

Vineyard

A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...

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

Loam

Loam is soil composed of sand, silt, and clay in relatively even concentration . Loam soils generally contain more nutrients and humus than sandy soils, have better infiltration and drainage than silty soils, and are easier to till than clay soils...

. The canopies on these vineyards are usually quite open and not completely erected. 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

Quadrilateral

In Euclidean plane geometry, a quadrilateral is a polygon with four sides and four vertices or corners. Sometimes, the term quadrangle is used, by analogy with triangle, and sometimes tetragon for consistency with pentagon , hexagon and so on...

and divided in a horizontal way, the space must be of about six to seven feet.