Dolomite Cabernet Franc

Pork Loin with plum and Armagnac sauce / Game bird with red wine sauce / Springbok, Ostrich or Kudu / Karoo lamb / Hard cheeses

The grapes come from Stellenbosch and are grown only on decomposed dolomite granite soils. This lends itself to great acidity, freshness and an extended mineral finish. Individual vineyard blocks where hand-picked at perfect ripeness during February.

This wine was matured in 300 litre French Oak barrels for 14 months. The wine was matured using only neutral oak barrels.

Grapes were hand sorted three times, crushed and left to cold soak on the skins for five days. After fermentation at a temperature of 28°C, the grapes were basket pressed and underwent malolactic fermentation in stainless steel tanks.

Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc. That’s it. Since 2000 founder Bruwer Raats has kept his focus on these two varieties believing that specialising would lead to success. This belief was not unfounded as today Raats Family Wines is regarded as a leader of South Africa’s Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc receiving consistent local and international accolades. With Gavin Bruwer joining Raats’ side in 2010 the family affair has one shared mission: to consistently produce Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc of outstanding quality from South Africa and to establish these wines as international benchmarks. As the Raats philosophy continues to flourish new curated additions have been introduced along the way. This includes the well-received vineyard-driven B Vintners Vine Exploration Co. range and the single wine speciality bottling of MR De Compostella – an incredibly successful collaboration between Raats himself and fellow winemaker and long-time friend Mzokona Mvemve. Based in the winemaking capital of Stellenbosch Bruwer Mzokona and Gavin’s winemaking criteria is rigorous and includes the quality of grape soil climate topography and of course the impact of the human hand which together embodies the truest meaning of terroir.