2017 Meerlust Rubicon: the vintage of the decade

13 Dec 2021

A year without water yields beautiful wine

Grapevines are drought-tolerant plants. They need very little water and can endure high temperatures; however, even the hardiest vines with the deepest roots will struggle in the face of successive years without rainfall. 2017 was the final vintage for some of the Cape's most venerable vineyards, the vines dying under the strain of the third summer of drought - and irrigation was not an option, as the reservoirs were empty and citizens of Cape Town queued up to fill buckets at the few mountain springs which still yielded precious water.

For Meerlust, however, the vintage was ideal. The weather, while painfully dry, was not particularly hot (unlike 2015 and 2016), allowing for long, slow ripening; and while the vines were certainly parched, their roots were able to draw on what little moisture remained in the deep clay soils of the estate. Located southwest of Stellenbosch, not far from the bright white sands of Macassar Beach in False Bay, Meerlust was founded in 1693 by a German who gave the estate its name - 'desire for the sea'. Most of the vineyards were replanted in the late 1990s, and at 20 years of age these vines are just reaching an ideal maturity for the production of exceptionally fine wines.

This 37th vintage of Rubicon, the last to be crafted entirely from start to finish by Chris Williams (who stepped down at the end of 2019 to focus on his own project, The Foundry), sees an increase in the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon to 68%. The result is a beautifully balanced wine with dark fruit and wood-spice aromatics and a complex, structured palate which combines power and elegance to give superb long-term potential - indeed, it is the elegance of this wine which stands out, a sense of refinement which makes it superior to the delicious but bulky structure of the 2015. Already very enjoyable in its youthful exuberance, this wine will develop well over the next 5 years, and age gracefully into the 2040s. Despite the challenges posed by drought, this has proven to be an exceptionally fine vintage for the Meerlust Rubicon. /JH

'A classy wine from a really top vintage. What’s not to like, as they say? Marrying Cabernet Sauvignon with 32% Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, this is a subtle, refined, nuanced Rubicon with herbal, earthy, tobacco and graphite perfume, fine 60% new wood, polished tannins and a long, graceful finish. Traditional in style and rightly proud of it. Drink 2023-32. 96 points' – Tim Atkin MW, 2021 South Africa Report

Offered subject to remaining unsold, available now