Winemaker Notes
Dark and brooding, with intricate aromas of oak spice, black berry coulis, graphite powder, tilled earth, wet tobacco and chai tea. The palate is luxurious and utterly elegant, with layered flavors of blackcurrants, Morello cherries, crunchy raspberries and dark coffee beans, all of which are framed against a sturdy, yet delicate latticework of finely grained tannins. A wine filled with poise and precision, waiting to unleash the promise of this majestic vintage.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
With a robust but finely carved structure, this wine is drinking beautifully now but still has a long life ahead of it. The tannins are soft yet firm and the alcohol very well integrated. Seductively smokey nose and a complex palate of plum, blackberry, tobacco and forest floor. Long, lifted finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon opens with pleasant red fruit aromas complemented by subtle oak spice. Notes of pencil shavings, graphite, blackberry, plum and dark cherry come through, creating a ripe and juicy nose. The palate is medium to full-bodied and offers balanced tannins with a refined focus on fresh oak spices. The finish is spicy with lingering hints of soft herbs and cigar box flavors. This wine is currently drinking well and has the potential to improve with time. Rating: 93+
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Wine Enthusiast
A sweet-oak overlay graces the nose of this decadent red, expressed in notes of baking spice and raw cocoa atop black cherry and currant fruit. Hints of tilled earth and foot-crushed violets add attractive depth and complexity, though they also suggest promise of more to come as the wood mellows. The palate is tight and firmly structured, with gripping, astringent tannins that need more time to resolve and better coalesce with the fruit. Drink 2026–2031.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
South Africa’s most famous wine-producing district, Stellenbosch, surrounds the historic town with the same name; fine winemaking here dates back to the late 1600s. Its valleys of granite, sandstone and alluvial loam soils between the towering blue-grey mountains of Stellenbosch, Simonsberg and Helderberg have the capacity to produce beautiful wines from many varieties. The climate is warm Mediterranean, tempered by the cool Atlantic air of nearby False Bay.
Perhaps most well-known for its Pinotage and Bordeaux blends, Stellenbosch also produces noteworthy wines from Syrah, Chenin blanc, Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc. The district’s wards—Banghoek, Bottelary, Devon Valley, Jonkershoek Valley, Papegaaiberg, Polkadraai Hills and Simonsberg-Stellenbosch—all produce distinctive wines from vines with relatively low yields.