Cabernet Franc

French-trimmed Karoo lamb with rosemary and thyme.

Produced from a single vineyard planted in 2008.

After completion, the wine was racked in French oak barrels (40% new, 30% second fill, and 30% third fill) for a period of 22 months before a strict selection process, where only the best barrels are used. These barrels are then blended and filtered before bottling in May 2023.

Hand harvested, de-stemmed, and sorted into tanks. This block spent 17 days on the skins, with two to three pump-overs per day, and then pressed to undergo malolactic fermentation.

Warwick Estate lies in a valley enclosed by the Simonsberg Kanonkop and Klapmutskop. Originally part of a vast piece of land known as Good Success this eighteenth century farm belonged to Colonel Alexander Gordon who renamed his portion in honour of the Warwickshire regiment which he commanded during the Boer War. Years later in 1964 Stan Ratcliffe bought Warwick where with considerable foresight he began planting the precious Cabernet Sauvignon vines which are still a major part of the production today. These vines produced high quality grapes and became highly sought after by wholesalers and other wineries. However it took the arrival of Norma Ratcliffe Stan's beautiful and energetic wife in 1971 for the family to begin making a few experimental wines from Cabernet Sauvignon. The early results were very encouraging and served to extol the virtues of what is surely some of the best terroir in South Africa. Michael Ratcliffe Norma's son has now taken over as proprietor in Stan's retirement and has wasted no time in stamping his personality on the Estate. A host of new innovative techniques learnt during his postgraduate wine studies in Australia are being implemented aimed at maximizing the potential of the Warwick terroir. Under Michael's leadership the Warwick team is striving to take the next step in quality.