7 Best Cabernet Sauvignon-Finished Whiskeys, Ranked by Critics

Red wine — especially a red wine as dark, dry and powerful as a Cabernet Sauvignon — is one of the hardest finishes to get right when it comes to whiskey. Putting your bourbon or single malt to age in a Cabernet cask can quickly go downhill; many Cab finishes taste like you’re just drinking extra-boozy red wine, as the wine influence can totally drown out the character of the base whiskey.

When done well, however, a Cabernet Sauvignon finish can work artfully on a whiskey, intertwining flavors in a way so that the dry wine notes mingle beautifully with the sweet whiskey notes. The seven whiskeys below — ranked by The Daily Pour’s Critics’ Score, a proprietary number that aggregates and averages reviews given by trusted critics — are examples of red wine finishing done right.

7. Virginia Distillery Co. Cabernet Cask Select

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Virginia Distillery Co. Cabernet Cask Select opens with a nose that leads almost entirely with the wine — a wall of Cabernet character softened by honey, graham cracker and a faint white pepper prickle. Made from 100% malted barley and finished in a mix of French and California Cabernet Sauvignon casks, it clocks in at 46.5% ABV and can be found for around $45. On the palate it stays buttery and approachable, with dry red wine and oak playing off the grain sweetness in a way that’s pleasant but, frankly, a bit one-dimensional. The finish carries more of the same: vanilla, barrel char, Cabernet and a lick of ethanol heat. Red wine drinkers dipping their toes into whiskey will find it welcoming, but it’s probably the least complex option on this list.

6. I.W. Harper Cabernet Cask Reserve

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I.W. Harper Cabernet Cask Reserve is a 4-year-old bourbon finished in California Cabernet Sauvignon casks, bottled at 90 proof and priced at around $50. Between Heaven Hill distilling it and Stitzel-Weller handling the bottling, it’s an expression with legacy pedigree. The California wine cask influence is present but measured, folding into the bourbon’s natural corn-forward sweetness rather than bulldozing it. At 45% ABV, it’s approachable enough for a weeknight pour, and the price keeps it in impulse-buy territory.

5. Daviess County Cabernet Finished Bourbon

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Daviess County Cabernet Finished Bourbon This 48%-ABV bourbon spent six months in Cabernet Sauvignon barrels and came out smelling like caramel, toffee and a spoonful of strawberry jam. The palate is on the lighter side of medium-bodied, with honey and jammy red berries weaving through oak and toffee in a way that’s easy to follow. What’s impressive for something this young is how cleanly the wine finish announces itself without overwhelming the bourbon underneath. The finish is warm, unhurried and leaves a trail of caramel and berry that lingers just long enough. Priced at $45, this is a solid case study in what a wine finish can accomplish with the right base spirit.

4. Amador Whiskey Co. Double Barrel Cabernet Sauvignon Barrels

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Amador Whiskey Co. Double Barrel Bourbon Cabernet Finish takes a 3-year Kentucky bourbon (72% corn, 13% rye, 15% barley) and parks it for nine to twelve months in Napa Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon barrels, and the result is a whiskey that just works. At 45% ABV and around $54.99, it sits at the upper edge of the accessible tier, and the Napa provenance of those finishing casks matters: these are serious wine barrels, and the whiskey picks up accordingly. The corn sweetness from the base spirit and the dark fruit weight of the Cabernet find a comfortable middle ground, with enough rye spice to keep things from going soft.

3. Glen Moray Cabernet Cask Finish

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The lone Scotch on this list, Glen Moray Cabernet Cask Finish is first matured in American oak, then transferred to French Cabernet Sauvignon casks. This Speyside single is bottled at a modest 40% ABV and costs about $40, making it an accessible option for anyone curious about how Scotch whisky handles a red wine finish. The lighter, more floral character of Glen Moray’s house style means the Cabernet casks don’t have to fight through layers of corn sweetness or heavy rye spice to make their presence felt. The result is a whisky that reads almost like a bridge between a Burgundy-adjacent red and a classic Speyside dram.

2. Chattanooga Whiskey Silver Oak Cabernet Cask Finished Release

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Chattanooga Whiskey Silver Oak Cabernet Cask Finished Release is the most wine-dominant pour on this list, and it makes no apologies for that. Finished for over 18 months in Cabernet barrels sourced directly from Silver Oak Cellars in Sonoma, this four-year straight malt whiskey (a blend of five single-malt mashbills, bottled at 47.5% ABV) smells like a bakery that moonlights as a wine bar: creamy frosting, blackberry, cherry cordial, cocoa and a slate-mineral edge that catches you off guard in the best way. The palate runs hot initially, but give it a minute and the ethanol settles, leaving behind cranberry, red cherry and a citrus zest brightness that keeps the whole thing from feeling heavy. With only six to eight barrels produced, finding a bottle is a challenge, but if you stumble across one, it’s good stuff for its $60 price tag.

1. Woodford Reserve Distillery Series: Cabernet Sauvignon Barrel Finish

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The most recent release on this list is also the best. Woodford Reserve Distillery Series: Cabernet Sauvignon Barrel Finish just dropped in February 2026. It takes fully matured Woodford Reserve Bourbon and finishes it in French oak Cabernet Sauvignon barrels. Bottled at 90.4 proof (45.2% ABV), this limited-edition release does an exceptional job of balancing wine and whiskey.

The nose alone is worth the price of admission: deep, musky red wine mingles with cotton candy and browned butter, a combination that sounds like it shouldn’t work and absolutely does. On the palate, the bourbon never disappears behind the wine finish, which is the central challenge of this entire category. Toasted marshmallow, tannic Cabernet, seared oak and a thread of pepper keep the base spirit audible beneath the wine character. The finish pivots spicy, with cinnamon giving way to oak and more Cabernet, and the whole arc from first sniff to final sip hangs together with the kind of coherence that justifies Master Distiller Elizabeth McCall’s enthusiasm for the project. The catch: it’s priced at $64.99 for a 375-milliliter bottle, and availability is limited to the Woodford distillery, select Kentucky retailers and online shipping in a handful of states. If you’re in the market and love both whiskey and Cabernet, don’t hesitate.

This list covers the full range of what Cabernet-finished whiskey can look like, from accessible everyday pours to limited-edition collector bottles worth hunting down. The category keeps growing, and the best entries prove that the right wine cask doesn’t erase what makes a whiskey worth drinking; it adds another dimension to it.