Our Wines (archived)

Very bright, polished platinum with green, vivacious hue. Complex, appealing nose with pear, citrus and floral notes developing into lemon cream, oatmeal and marzipan richness. On the palate the wine is medium bodied and linear but retains generous focused citrus fruit flavours with sleek, balanced and crisp acidity. The wine remains vivacious and fresh on the finish with clean citrus fruit and stony minerality. The wine has a long, very pleasant lingering finish. Decanting and exposure to air opens the aroma and palate of the wine

Very bright, polished platinum with green, vivacious hue. Complex, appealing nose with pear, citrus and floral notes developing into lemon cream, oatmeal and marzipan richness. On the palate the wine is medium bodied and linear but retains generous focused citrus fruit flavours with sleek, balanced and crisp acidity. The wine remains vivacious and fresh on the finish with clean citrus fruit and stony minerality. The wine has a long, very pleasant lingering finish.

Very bright, polished platinum with green, vivacious hue. Complex, appealing nose with pear, citrus and floral notes developing into lemon cream, oatmeal, and marzipan richness. On the palate the wine is medium bodied and linear but retains generous focused citrus fruit flavours with sleek, balanced, and crisp acidity. The wine remains vivacious and fresh on the finish with clean citrus fruit and stony minerality. The wine has a long, very pleasant lingering finish. Decanting and exposure to air opens the aroma and palate of the wine.

Very bright, polished platinum with green, vivacious hue. Complex, appealing nose with pear, citrus and floral notes developing into lemon cream, oatmeal and marzipan richness. On the palate the wine is medium bodied and linear but retains generous focused citrus fruit flavours with sleek, balanced and crisp acidity. The wine remains vivacious and fresh on the finish with clean citrus fruit and stony minerality. The wine has a long, very pleasant lingering finish. Decanting and exposure to air opens the aroma and palate of the wine.

Intense, vivid opaque youthful purple-ruby appearance. The wine shows pronounced lifted floral perfume on the nose with a brooding and seductive dark berry fruit, musk, wild mushrooms and hints of iron, savoury richness and spice and an intense vibrant minerality.

On the palate there are very pure Pinot fruit flavours on entry with red cherry and musk flavours coupled with fresh acidity. The wine has layered complexity with great elegance and finesse. Very fine lacy, almost powdery tannin on the finish.

Pronounced lifted floral perfume on the nose with a brooding and seductive dark berry fruit, musk, wild mushrooms and hints of iron, savoury richness and spice and an intense vibrant minerality. On the palate there are very pure Pinot fruit flavours on entry with red cherry and musk flavours coupled with fresh acidity. The wine has layered complexity with great elegance and finesse. Very fine lacy, almost powdery tannin on the finish.

The wine shows a vibrant garnet colour with a youthful appearance. On the nose the wine shows pronounced lifted floral perfume with a brooding and seductive red berry fruit, earthy, wild mushrooms and hints of spice.

On the palate there are very pure Pinot fruit flavours on entry with red cherry and musk flavours coupled with fresh acidity. The wine has layered complexity with great elegance and finesse. Very fine lacy, almost powdery tannin on the finish.

2015 was a watershed vintage for our Merlot. We have been refining the viticulture to produce more balanced, flavourful fruit. This, coupled with the perfect conditions of 2015 has produced our best Merlot yet. Deep, youthful purple colour with a ruby rim. Intense dark brambly fruit on the nose, mulberry, liquorice and damson plum with hints of dark chocolate and spice, tempered by a stony minerality. The  medium-full bodied palate offers generous, ripe, pure Merlot fruit with refreshing acidity, structured yet silky tannins and pronounced length and minerality. There is a core of juiciness, opulence and richness typical of the variety, while the Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot lend greater complexity to the wine.

The 2017 vintage was surprising in that from the very beginning it was similar to the superb 2015. A cold winter in 2016 followed but a warm spring ensured early and evening bud break. Although comparatively dry, as the Cape was still experiencing a drought, the 2017 crop was greatly
enhanced by our ability to irrigate strategically, ensuring steady ripening and eventual phenolic development of even the later ripening vineyards. Strict green harvesting and exposure of the fruit to gentle morning sun yielded perfectly healthy and ripe fruit across all the varieties.

Tasted in early 2018, the Rubicon 2015 is showing all of the hallmarks of a great, classic vintage of Rubicon. Incredibly dense purple-ebony core with very slight gradation at the rim. The nose is brooding, dark bramble fruit, cassis, plum, incense and liquorice, it is still very tightly coiled, slowly offering cigar box, crushed stone and subtle oak spice. On the palate the wine is concentrated yet restrained with dark fruit flavours of pastille, mulberry and dark chocolate, all held in an intricate lattice of polished sleek grape tannin. Still very young yet approachable, this Rubicon promises a long future of maturation and enjoyment.

The 2016 Rubicon shows great charm and drinkability even at this early stage, no doubt a result of the high Merlot and Cabernet Franc composition. We were very cautious with regards to tannic structure as some of the later Cabs exhibited astringency which we wanted to minimise in the final blend. Wonderful exotic aromas of plum, sandalwood and perfume, still with a touch of creamy vanilla. The palate is medium bodied with a forward dark fruit flavour of cassis and mulberry followed by a lithe tannic structure fleshed out with juicy fruit. The impression is one of litheness and grace rather than over-arching power.

Weather vagaries and Meerlust’s exacting quality requirements determine that not every vintage is worthy of our flagship red blend Rubicon. Thus is born, in rare years, our collector’s Meerlust Red 2019. The Red 2019 is a blend of  Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot aged in French oak for 17 months. Intense fresh red fruit combines with floral, spicy notes in a medium-bodied wine with a soft, silky texture.