The Drift Mary Le Bow Red

The Mary le Bow is a farm-designate red blend generally consisting of Cabernet and Shiraz, with seasoning pinch of Petit Verdot, Malbec or Merlot. This wine comes from the spectacular, top quality wine farm called Wildepaardeklood (“wild horse valley”), tucked into the mountains high above the rural hamlet of Ashton in the Western Cape hinterland. I have been involved with the farm since the re-planting program was undertaken by the Fraters in the 1990’s. The wine is named after St Mary le Bow Church in the City of London—famous, of course, for the big Bow Bell. Many sources put Mary le Bow as the oldest place of Christian worship in England. Many of the Crusades officially left from St Mary le Bow, and of course the remains of the knights who fought and died in the Holy Land were interned in the crypts The Fraters’ ancestors were some of the last people to be buried there, hence the connection. James asked me to make this wine to fulfil his father’s (Kenneth Frater) vision of a wine that “...almost trembled with power, but never needed to flex its muscle to be enjoyed.” That’s a cool brief for a winemaker!