What's the difference between a French Bordeaux and a California Cabernet sauvignon?

In the U.S. varietal wines are named after the dominant grape used to make them. In France (except for Alscace) they're named for the region in which the grapes are grown. The predominant grape in Bordeaux is Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, but some of the grand crus chateaus use mostly, if not exclusively, Merlot.It is worth noting that very few wine experts would fail to recognize grand crus or premiere crus Bordeaux or would confuse them with California Cabernets. The so-called great-growth and first-growth wines are affected by their unique terroir, which imparts unmistakable attributes and charactersitics to them that California wines do not possess.

To our California palate, a Bourdeaux will taste quite different from a Cabernet. French wines (in general) have a more earthy flavor and it does have to do with the land and the many, many years the vines have been producing.

Bordeaux is somewhat of an acquired taste. After drinking Cabs from CA, you may be surprised. It's fun to do a taste test.

Some good info given so far, well done guys. Here's few extra bits you might find interesting. The five red grapes grown in Bordeaux are: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec. ALL Bordeaux reds are a blend of one or more of those grapes. Its worth nothing that if a bottle of Californian wine states the grape variety only 75% of the wine must be made from that grape (85% if its being sold into the EU), so basically most Californian Cabernet Sauvignons may be blends!