Inviting melange of plush and plump black and red berry fruits, blueberries, spice and chocolate on the nose. Those same fruits and flavours glide seamlessly from the nose onto the palate. There’s a subtle note of fennel or anise but with rich black cherry and plum notes adding succulence. Reigning in this abundance is a frame of oak and tannin which provides a gentle, muscular squeeze. Textured, rich and rounded but elegantly robust, there’s a beautiful complexity and breadth to this wine. The cocoa powder nuance is present in the long, tapered finish.
variety : Cabernet Sauvignon [ 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Cabernet Franc, 21% Merlot ]
winemaker : Dawie Botha
wine of origin : Franschhoek
analysis : alc : 14.0 % vol rs : 2.4 g/l pH : 3.49 ta : 5.8 g/l
type : Red style : Dry body : Full taste : Fruity wooded
pack : Bottle size : 750ml closure : Cork
in the vineyard : Over time, we have identified Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot as the best-suited cultivars for the terroir of L’Ormarins Estate in Franschhoek. These vineyards are planted across varied aspects of the estate, with selections for the Anthonij Rupert Blend coming from our most prized parcels on Oakleaf and decomposed granite soils. Each vineyard’s canopy and yield are carefully managed to highlight the unique character of its varietal and site. 2017 was an exceptional vintage, comparable to 2015, with a moderate growing season that
produced healthy, concentrated fruit. The grapes had a high skin-to-pulp ratio, resulting in firm tannins, classic structure, and vibrant natural acidity. The 2017 vintage promises full wines with concentrated flavor profiles and supreme aging ability.
in the cellar : Grapes are picked by hand, placed into small lug boxes, and transported to the cellar in a refrigerated truck. In the cellar, the whole berries are double-sorted with optical sorting and then gravity-fed into wood fermenters. Each parcel is cold soaked for a few days and then slowly brought up in temperature, where fermentation takes place naturally. After fermentation, 5 days of maceration on the skins are allowed. The wines were aged for 24 months in 50% new French oak barriques, bottled unfiltered, and then bottle-aged for an additional 6 years before release. The grapes are mostly from from our Franschhoek vineyards, and a small part from our Groenekloof vineyards.
Only 16 barriques were produced for the 2017 vintage.