Boekenhoutskloof, Franschhoek Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

R775,00

TA – Tim Atkin MW
PG – Platter’s Wine Guide

The nose is rich and complex with aromas of youngberry, mulberry, damson and wild strawberry and gentle whiffs of smoke and sweet spice. The palate is very refined and polished, with the ripe red fruits of the nose following through with a delicate garrigue character and a smooth texture. Notes of lavender and thyme, precision and finesse on the mid-palate and very fine-grained, powdery tannins make for a very classic Cabernet. The wine is medium-bodied, structured, focused and balanced, with attractive, refreshing acidity. Black fruit, aniseed, cloves, pipe tobacco and cardamon, linger on the finish with hints of graphite.

The Franschhoek Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from various parcels cultivated in the Franschhoek Valley. From four individual vineyards planted adjacent to one another in deep alluvial soils of the valley and our own vineyards planted in the decomposed Granite soils found on slopes surrounding Boekenhoutskloof. The Cabernet Sauvignon and small portion of Cabernet Franc vineyards planted on Boekenhoutskloof have been organically farmed for 11 years and produce exceptional quality fruit with each vintage. We opted to use more of our fruit planted on Boekenhoutskloof with the 2018 vintage, and the results are evident in the final wine.

The 2018 Franschhoek vintage was solid in all respects, with harvest commencing toward the end of March—cold winter and spring conditions followed by a hot and dry ripening period. Cooler nighttime temperatures prolonged the Cabernet Sauvignon hang times, resulting in elegant and perfumed wines with perfect physiologically ripe fruit profile. We again opted to blend in a tiny percentage Cabernet Franc (11%) from our old vineyard on the farm, contributing subtle fragrance and finesse to the dark fruit spectrum. We intended to create a textbook claret and to respect the signature Boekenhoutskloof Cabernet style. We worked with a classic dark berry fruit profile and captured the vintage’s full, rich character and deep flavours.

We opted for gentle vinification to avoid huge, monstrous wines. Grapes were picked by hand into small lug boxes, and bunch sorted with berry selection and gently de-stemmed. The grapes underwent a cold maceration in tulip-shaped concrete vessels and then fermented at temperatures between 27° and 30°C with frequent pump-overs to extract aromas, colour and tannins. After spontaneous alcoholic fermentation, a prolonged malolactic fermentation occurred naturally in 225-litre barriques. The wine was matured on our OXOline system for 22 months in 80% new light toast, long seasoned French oak from our preferred coopers, Sylvain and Saury.

  • Alcohol: 14.30% vol
  • RS: 1.80 g/l
  • TA: 5.60 g/l
  • pH: 3.71
  • W.O. Franschhoek