Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon food pairing is best with nearly all red meat, including prime rib, New York strip and filet mignon. Also, try lamb or pepper-crusted ahi tuna. The wine is best enjoyed with food and is great in sauces or reductions.

The grapes are picked in the coolness of the morning, and the emphasis is on capturing powerful fruit at a full ripe stage when developed flavours of pure dark berry fruit prevail alongside soft juicy tannins. These are the characteristics needed to create a wine of structure, elegance and depth.

After malolactic fermentation, the wines are taken off the lees into fresh barrels for further maturation. Some 18 months after harvest, the wines are blended and prepared for bottling.

After de-stemming, the grapes are cooled down and moved to tank for a few days’ cold-soaking on the skins before fermentation starts. The wine ferments dry on the skins and after racking and pressing the young wines are moved into French oak barrels specially selected by Monsieur Christian Radoux. The fine French oak enhances the fresh fruity aromas and flavours as the wines go through malolactic fermentation.

The name De Wetshof has been synonymous with the production of fine wines in South Africa since the 1970’s. As the first registered wine estate in the Robertson Wine Valley De Wetshof has become known internationally as South Africa’s eminent Chardonnay House due to the pioneering role it played in introducing this noble Burgundian grape to the country. The De Wet family’s winemaking heritage can however be traced back to 1694 when the first De Wets arrived at the Cape and immediately made a mark on the South African wine industry. Today De Wetshof is one of the few third generation wine estates in South Africa. Here Danie de Wet proprietor and cellarmaster is assisted by sons Johann (viticulture and marketing) and Peter (winemaker).