Rainbow’s End, 2018 Cabernet Franc, Stellenbosch, South Africa
When it comes to Cabernet Franc in South Africa, the grape's flag-bearer would unquestionably be Bruwer Raats of Raats Family Wines. Bruwer comes from a family of farmers and wine was always apart of his upbringing, and after completing his viticulture and winemaking studies at Elsenburg Agricultural College in 1995, he had a formative experience working his first harvest at Blaauwklippen Winery, where following harvest he tasted the estate's Cabernet Franc from barrel, and was instantly smitten with the variety for its quality and elegance. At the time, Cabernet Franc was seen as a blending grape in South Africa, and nothing more, but Bruwer could see the potential for this grape in Stellenbosch and decided in that moment that when he established his winery Cabernet Franc would be his focus along with Chenin Blanc, one of South Africa's most historic varieties.
So in 2000, Bruwer purchased 2ha of land in the Polkadraai Hills and established Raats Family Wines with the sole focus of making high quality Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc. Today, Bruwer is working with about 15 hectares of Cabernet Franc, from which he is making now four single varietal Cabernet Francs including the Raats Family Cabernet Franc and the Dolomite Cab Franc, which are expressions from across different vineyard sites, and two single-vineyard Cabernet Francs the Eden High Density and the newest offering the Vlag Vineyard Selection.
It has been some time since I've done a deep dive on a wine from South Africa, so I want to take a moment to shed a bit of light on the Cabernet Franc picture here. It might come as a surprise to many but the most planted variety in South Africa is Chenin Blanc with around 16,485 ha. In fact, there is more Chenin Blanc planted in South Africa than in the Loire Valley.
Now, that might give us hope that maybe Cabernet Franc has a stronghold here? Sadly, no. Cabernet Sauvignon is the most planted red variety with over 9100ha under vines, and there is currently only about 796ha of Cabernet Franc planted in South Africa, with Stellenbosch leading the way with about 350 ha, followed by Paarl with 168ha and Swartland with about 75ha. But despite these low plantings, the grape is grown in every single region in the country, more and more producers are producing single varietal Cabernet Franc, and there is even an annual festival and competition that celebrates the variety.
So, today's wine is taking us to the Stellenbosch district, and more specifically the Polkadraai Hills ward, which is one of 8 official wards within Stellenbosch. While the first grape vines were planted in the Polkadraai Hills back in 1707, the region only received Wine of Origin status in 2008, and when Bruwer established his winery and vineyards here in 2000, it was jokingly referred to by other winemakers in the region as the ass-end of Stellenbosch. But in recent years, the region has undergone a bit of a renaissance and is becoming the source of some of the most exciting wines not only in Stellenbosch but in all of South Africa, thanks to its cooler climate, granitic soils, and its small, close-knit group of passionate, talented winemakers.
So, where exactly are we in Stellenbosch. The Polkadraai Hills is the ward that is the furthest west in the Stellenbosch district, only about 10-13km inland from False Bay, with its western border just about 10km east of the Cape Town airport. This proximity to False Bay, which stays very cold all year round thanks to the cold waters brought by the Benguela current, gives the region a slightly cooler climate all year round.
In addition to this, the vineyard area is defined by a series of predominantly south-facing slopes ranging in elevation from around 120m to upwards to about 400m above sea level. It's important to remember that in the southern hemisphere, the south-facing slopes are the cooler ones.
And these south-facing slopes are key because during the growing season as the breezes coming in from the southeast off of False Bay begin to pick-up in the afternoons, these south-facing slopes are moderated by these strong, cool breezes, helping to cool down the vineyards, slow down ripening and preserve acidities. In terms of soils, the region is dominated by decomposed granitic soils, with a higher proportion of sands in the topsoil, which combines good drainage and low fertility.
Drilling down to the Raats Family Cabernet Franc, this is coming about 2ha of vines from across two vineyard sites, the Bluegum Grove and Vineyards. We're at an elevation of around 200m above sea level, about 13km from False Bay, and on those all-important south-facing slopes. In terms of soil, we have decomposed dolomite granite sandy-loams, atop a mix of silt or loam and clay also of granitic origin in the subsoil. Both vineyards were planted in 2002 with clone 214, which is the only clone Bruwer works with across his vineyards. Actually, in a conversation I had back in 2020 with Bruwer, he referred to the clone 214 as the Rolls Royce of Cabernet Franc clones, and he recently mentioned that working with quality vine material across his vineyards has been one of the keys to the improvement in quality across his range of Cabernet Francs, that along with their switch to regenerative agriculture.
From a winemaking perspective, the fruit is hand-harvested, mostly destemmed and crushed, with about 15% left whole cluster in the 2020 vintage. The fruit will undergo a cold soak for about 5 days in advance of alcoholic fermentation. The fermentation is in stainless steel with selected yeast at a target temperature of about 28C, and the total time on skins is about 10 days with gentle punchdowns once per day. Following a gentle pressing, the free run wine and press wine are blended together, and aged in 300 and 500L French oak barrels, 25% new.
Key wine wine facts below:
Producer: Raats Family Wines
Region: Coastal Region
District: Stellenbosch
Ward: Polkadraai Hills
Vineyards: Bluegum Grove and Skoonheid vineyards
Soils: Decomposed dolomite granite sandy-loam, over granitic clay-loam and silt-loam
Alcohol: 14.0%
