The Leeu Passant

Terrific with steaks or chops—like lamb chops with frizzled herbs.

This flagship cuvée from our Leeu Passant winery is a remarkable heritage blend and includes South Africa’s oldest surviving vineyard. The single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc grow on the mid-slopes of the Helderberg Mountain in Stellenbosch. The Cinsault component comes from a single vineyard in Wellington, registered in 1900, recognised as South Africa’s oldest. These dry- farmed bush vines grow in deep, sandy alluvial soils, contributing to the wine’s distinctive character. Each single vineyard was hand-harvested between 3 February and 23 March 2023, yielding between 2 and 6 tons per hectare, equivalent to roughly 12 to 30 hectolitres per hectare.

The wine matured for an initial eleven months in 500L French oak barrels, one- third of which were new. It was then blended and aged for an additional eleven months in seasoned 2000L foudres. The wine was only released after a further fifteen months in bottle.

The Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc were destemmed into fermentation tanks, while the Cinsault was fermented with 100% whole bunches and gently crushed. During fermentation with indigenous yeast, the caps were carefully managed through a combination of gentle punch-downs and pump-overs, tailored to each lot. Following an extended maceration, the wines were drained and pressed to barrel, racked over winter, thoughtfully blended, and then transferred to large wooden foudres.

The Leeu Passant winery, based in Franschhoek, was established in 2013 with the purpose of harnessing the most exciting vineyards of the Cape in order to create multi-regional wines from vineyards aimed at expressing the Cape as a whole (not only from Franschhoek). The Name “Leeu Passant” is derived from Heraldry, referring to a ‘passing Lion’ and this is the symbol on the top of the capsule. Chris and Andrea Mullineux search far and wide for the best parcels of grapes for these wines, and make them at the Leeu Passant base, on Leeu Estates.