The quality of the 2021 vintage will be remembered for a long time in the Cape but winemaker and cellar master Wim Truter certainly stepped up to the plate to craft an incredibly impressive 2022 Rubicon Cape Bordeaux Blend. There are few wine brands in the Cape more iconic than Meerlust Rubicon, thus magnifying the expectations and pressures on the estate to release a benchmark expression year after year.

Since Wim Truter took over from Chris Williams with the 2020 vintage (assisted by Altus Treurnicht), Wim has attempted to utilise the full extent of his “Meerlust toolbox” to maintain but also increase the quality of the Meerlust wines. This has taken place in the form of deconstructing and segmenting all the estate’s cultivars and terroirs to the finest degree of nuance, discovering what cultivar works the best on which soils. Where necessary, vineyards have been replanted.

The Rubicon is a true expression of the Meerlust estate and draws fruit from our four distinctive terroirs. Each terroir provides a unique element to the final blend.

Compagniesdrift – The soils from this warm north facing slope are predominantly formed from weathered granite. The wines originating from this granitic hilltop are expressive and bold in structure, mainly due to the coarse gravelly texture and sufficient soil depth to promote long and even ripening.

River Terraces – Sandy soils laced with rounded river stones allow for excellent root proliferation. This area of the Estate experiences the greatest shift between day and night temperatures, promoting flavour development of these delicate and fruit forward wines.

Quarry – The extremely rocky terrain consisting of greywacke with interbedded shales provides a unique substrate for vines. Shallow rooted vines on this cool and windswept foot slope leads to wines with characteristic red fruit with exceptional length, detail, and precision.

Lowlands – The remains of an ancient estuary are marked by clay-rich soils from deeply weathered greywacke and shales. The wines from this generally cool south facing, clay-rich terroir is typically smooth and silky in texture with prominent black fruit.

The pace of the 2022 season was slowed down by dry, warm temperatures recorded during the ripening period leading to the harvest starting slightly later. This resulted in good hang times and minimal harvesting pressures due to lower yields enabling the picking of grapes at optimal ripeness levels. The 2022 vintage was not the easiest in Stellenbosch but the results in the bottle for the Rubicon blend are once again suitably impressive after extensive focused parcel tastings for each cultivar.

Meerlust Estate Rubicon 2022, WO Stellenbosch, 14% Abv. 

The 2022 Rubicon is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (44%), Merlot (40%), Cabernet Franc (12%) and Petit Verdot (4%). The deep broody blue black fruit aromatics retain an enticing brambly, savoury, mellow aromatic elegance showing violets, lavender and a freshly tilled earth complexity. The warmth and dryness of the 2022 vintage shows in the wine’s rich generous mid-palate, with a plush accessible breadth but also a supple, creamy, attractively sweet fruited glycerol palate weight. This 2022 has the sweet fruit concentration of 2020 combined with the structural precision and elegance of 2017 but with perhaps an extra intensity of minerality, chalky granitic spice and pure black fruit persistence. A delicious Rubicon expression. Drink from 2026 to 2045+. 

(Wine Safari score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The Meerlust Estate wines are imported into the UK by Maison Marques et Domaines.