Discreetly tucked away in the southernmost corner of the spectacular Franschhoek Valley, the Holden Manz Wine Estate has earned a glowing reputation over the years as a premier boutique producer of ultra-premium, deeply expressive wines. Situated between the Franschhoek River and Stony Brook at an altitude of 300 metres, this 22-hectare estate benefits from an exceptional multi-layered terroir featuring rich loam soils and a unique mountain microclimate.
The signature Holden Manz wine style has always been unashamedly plush, opulent, and hedonistic. Under a philosophy that champions generous fruit concentration, textural elegance and seamless tannin structures, the estate focuses its own 16 hectares of vineyards heavily on classical red cultivars – namely Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, and Merlot.
These estate-grown grapes yield powerful, velvet-textured reds like the flagship Big G Bordeaux blend and their highly acclaimed Reserve range, known for sweet, ripe tannins and impressive cellaring potential. Complementing their reds, Holden Manz crafts sophisticated, wild-fermented white wines, including a critically acclaimed barrel-fermented Chardonnay Reserve, an elegant old vine Semillon and a notable Chenin Blanc Reserve. Striking a perfect balance between New World fruit intensity and Old World structural refinement, Holden Manz delivers a luxurious, deeply satisfying tasting experience tailored for the modern-day drinker in search of pure pleasure.
Already three years old, this enticing Chenin Blanc is crystalline and bright with a canary yellow hue. The aromatics are incredibly intricate and subtle, revealing delicate notes of savoury lemon cream biscuits, dried straw, waxy green apples, incense, and delicate quince nuances. While the nose is quite savoury with minor oak spice notes, the palate is far more vibrant and tangy, showing a pronounced sweet and sour mouthwatering acidity with hints of white peach, green melon and yellow apple fruits. Delicately pithy with a fine core of fruit concentration and depth, this is a very impressive expression of Chenin Blanc with a fine textural depth that should repay additional cellar ageing handsomely. Drink now to 2036+.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Holden Manz Chardonnay Reserve 2022, WO Coastal Region, 13% Abv.
The Reserve range wines from Holden Manz can normally be relied on to turn heads and this 2022 Chardonnay Reserve is no exception. Wonderfully cool, fresh, and crystalline, there is a lovely precise purity and brightness to the aromatics that flow from the glass with notes of pithy lemon peel, white blossoms, vanilla pod and subtle baking spices before delicate leesy, biscuity nuances. Medium bodied with a refreshingly moderate alcohol of 13% serves to emphasise the wines underlying minerality, freshness and focused energy. This is a wonderful success for the vintage. Drink now to 2032+.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Holden Manz Big G 2022, WO Franschhoek, 15% Abv.
The 2022 Holden Manz Big G returns to its big, bold hedonistic best after the cooler, fresher 2021 vintage. A Cabernet Sauvignon based Bordeaux blend with components of Cabernet Franc and Merlot, the individual parcels are picked to express a lavish ripeness and a true fruit intensity. Always made from specifically selected blocks on the farm, the aromatics are opulent and expressive with layers of sweet violet perfume, notions of black plums, black currant compote, roasted coffee beans and subtle mulberry nuances. The palate is sleek and silky, the tannins sweet, soft and elegantly generous adding to a fulsome glycerol weight in the mouth where the fruit power grows, held in a fine balance by soft well integrated acids. This wine is all about harmony and pleasure – seamless, comforting and simply delicious. Drink now to 2034+.
(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Holden Manz Merlot Reserve 2023, WO Franschhoek, 14% Abv.
The 2023 Reserve Merlot was aged in new French oak barrels for circa 20 months and possesses aromatics that suggest a wealth of seductive complexity, offering up intricately perfumed layers of violets, cinnamon and clove spices, pithy black cherry, black currant compote and hedonistic, brûléed dark mulberry hints. The subtle notes of vanilla pod oak and cedar spice continue on the palate that is impressively plush and creamy, the tannins delicately spicy but luxuriously soft and mouth coating. The reserve wines from Holden Manz are never short on fruit opulence and once again, the palate boasts an incredible depth of fruit with delicate graphite and roasted coffee bean notes on the finish. A wine that will resonate with fine wine drinkers searching for palate depth and opulence but without the structure and muscularity of Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink now to 2036+.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Holden Manz Cabernet Franc Reserve 2023, WO Franschhoek, 14% Abv.
The Cabernet Franc Reserve has always been one of Holden Manz’s most impressive wines, which is fortunate because after decades in the wilderness, this cultivar is experiencing somewhat of a highlife moment with fine wine consumers. This splendid example shows the true essence of Cabernet Franc with Holden Manz’s signature opulence and concentration at the fore. The aromatics on the 2023 are actually surprisingly quite classical and restrained, leading with top notes of dried violets, bay leaf, black chai tea, sweet cedar, and a graphite minerality over a solid layer of dark broody black berry fruits. The hints of sweet tobacco leaf, pepper and sappy cedar spice continue on the plush, densely textured palate with subtle dried herb notes and picante fine grained stony tannins on the finish. When it comes to Cabernet Franc, this is simply top-drawer quality. Drink now to 2038+.
Chateau Climens, legendary for its sublime sweet Sauternes wines from Barsac, brings its centuries of winemaking mastery into the dry white wine arena with their Lilium Bordeaux Blanc Sec. Named after the delicate white lily that mirrors its elegance, this exceptional cuvée marks a thrilling new modern chapter for this historic Barsac estate.
Produced with the same meticulous attention to detail and organic and biodynamic principles that define the estate’s sweet Barsac grand vin, Lilium is composed of 100% of Sémillon grapes. This choice beautifully bucks the Sauvignon Blanc-heavy trend of the region, allowing the grape’s natural texture, power and complexity to shine through. In the glass, Lilium is a masterclass in balance. It bypasses oak treatment completely in favour of pure, vibrant fruit flavours from fermentation and ageing in glass demijohns, offering a bouquet of crisp white peaches, citrus blossom, and a distinct, classical chalky minerality derived from the estate’s unique limestone soils.
Sémillon vineyards at Chateau Climens on limestone soils.
Lilium Bordeaux Blanc Sec is not just a second act, or even a recovery from difficult sweet wine sales, it is a complex, fresh, sophisticated expression of Barsac terroir, tailor-made for contemporary wine lovers seeking a dry white wine with deep historical roots and a bright, energetic soul – fully suited to a new generation of younger wine drinkers.
The very fancy 4000 Euro glass demijohns used for the Lilium white fermentation and ageing.
This is the top 100% pure Semillon dry white from the Chateau Climens range. Fermented and aged in large glass Demijohns, this is a more mineral, taut, ‘serious’ stylistic expression of Bordeaux Blanc Sec made for extended ageing. The aromatics are more backward and steely, restrained with suggestions of white apple blossoms, jasmine, pear fruits, and honey suckle. Cool and sleek, the texture is beautifully polished and elegant, the acids finely integrated with a steely structure that is at once accessible and seductive but also restrained and mineral, holding back a little extra exuberance for later in life. Drink now or cellar for another 3 to 5+ years before cracking your case.
A recent recipient of the ‘Winemaker of the Year’ award, Bruwer Raats has carved out a niche for high-quality wines from the decomposed Dolomitic Granite soils of the Polkadraai Hills in Stellenbosch, in what he refers to as a focus on ‘terroir not trend’.
His collaboration with Mzo Mvemve has brought about the MR de Compostella, one of the most critically successful red wines produced in South Africa, the pinnacle of the Cape Bordeaux Blend category, which was recently joined by the MR Vesperi White Blend.
With both the MR de Compostella 2023 and second release Vesperi 2024 hitting the market soon, I took the opportunity to taste these two new releases with Bruwer Raats on his recent trip to London. I’ve now tasted the new MR 2023 red four times over the past 6 months and am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this 2023 is one of Bruwer and Mzo’s most serious creations to date… not to be missed!! 🍷
MR Vesperi 2024, WO Polkadraai Hills, Stellenbosch, 13% Abv.
This second edition of the “white MR” is a similar blend to the maiden 2023 but possess a slightly higher Chenin Blanc portion at 41%, alongside 37% Sauvignon Blanc and 22% Semillon, that was matured for nine months in older oak barrels. While the oak and vanilla spice is perceptible, it’s also beautifully integrated with alluring aromatics of lime blossoms, lemon cordial, hints of waxy bergamot citrus, before more savoury, biscuity notes of nutty lees, wet straw and yellow orchard fruits. With the Sauvignon Blanc picked opulently ripe, its no surprise that the palate entry leads with more intense green fruit notes of greengage and orange citrus before the Chenin Blanc and Semillon slowly assert their presence. Broad and fleshy in the mouth, the balance is impressively harmonious and the fruit acid integration seductively seamless. Vibrant and noticeably chiselled on the finish, this is such a wonderfully accomplished addition to the lucrative Cape white blend category. Drink the Vesperi on release and over the next decade.
(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
MR de Compostella 2023, WO Stellenbosch, 14% Abv.
The 2023 MR de Compostella, or Compilation of the Stars is another 5-way blend of 30% Cabernet Franc, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Malbec, 17% Petit Verdot and 8% Merlot. With all fruit picked in prime condition long before the late harvest rains descended, this 2023 stands as one of the most fascinating MRs Bruwer and Mzo have produced since the maiden 2004. Sharing many aromatic, flavour, and textural similarities with previous vintages like the 2013, 2018 and the 2021, this 2023 is beautifully fragrant with top note aromatics of violets, rose petals, sweet cedar, crushed cranberries, saline crème de cassis and black cherry fruits that melt away into hints of dried herbs, graphite, and sweet tobacco leaf. Medium to full bodied, the palate shows a sleek strictness, a polished, elegantly restrained silky texture over an incredibly taut, powerful, titanium skeletal frame. The tannins are fine grained, tight knit and tensile but never grippy or chunky. This wine possesses a different kind intensity and muscular power – one shaped by pedigree, classicism, and restrained wound spring tension. This could well be one of the most “serious” MRs assembled to date… and I absolutely love it. Pop this one in your cellar for a few years while you enjoy the MR 2020 or the 2022.
(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Raats Family Wines and MR de Compostella wines are imported and distributed to the wine trade in the UK by Alliance Wines.
The Lady May is the flagship Cabernet Sauvignon-led Bordeaux blend from Glenelly Estate, nestled on the southern slopes of the Simonsberg Mountain in Stellenbosch. Named in honour of the estate’s founder, the legendary May-Eliane de Lencquesaing, the former owner of Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, this wine represents a seamless marriage of French pedigree and prime South African Stellenbosch terroir.
Characterized by its deep complexity, the blend typically features Petit Verdot, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc alongside its Cabernet Sauvignon backbone. It offers a sophisticated profile of dark fruit, etched graphite tannins, and a fresh mineral core, ensuring remarkable aging potential. Only released in South Africa in May 2026, it seems almost implausible that I tasted and reviewed this wine for a Winemag.co.za article way back in June 2024! But as luck would have it, I retasted the wine again in mid-May 2026 at the Cabernet Collective 2021 Tasting in London, and all the joyful memories of tasting it the first time two years ago came rushing back!
Dirk van Zyl in London recently presenting a masterclass at 67 Pall Mall.
Glenelly Estate Lady May 2021, WO Stellenbosch ,14.5% Abv.
A blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 6% Petit Verdot aged for 24 months in 100% new French oak barrels. Dense dark and opaque in the glass with incredibly potent and pure fruited aromatics of creme de cassis, saline black currant, cherry tobacco, grilled herbs, and subtle vanilla pod spice nuances. The palate embraces power and density showing fine chalky tannins, a real black and blue fruited intensity with just the most classically restrained, harmonious elegant finish. This is a phenomenal red wine that registers quality wise in the highest of echelons of what is possible for Cape Bordeaux Blends in South Africa. Drink from 2026 to 2046+.
(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Glenelly wines are imported into the UK by Seckford Wine Agencies.
The Bellevue Estate in Stellenbosch is the oldest commercial producer of Pinotage in South Africa, having produced both South Africa’s first bottled and award winning Pinotage. Bellevue’s story is one of bold decisions and forward thinking. When Pieter Krige (P.K.) Morkel couldn’t find Gamay vines in 1953, he embraced a pioneering South African cultivar: Pinotage. This decision not only shaped Bellevue’s identity but also contributed to the global recognition of Pinotage as a uniquely South African wine. “We currently work with the oldest average vine age in Stellenbosch with our youngest block 25 years old and our oldest being 73 years old” explains long time winemaker Wilhelm Kritzinger.
Among the Bellevue Estate red range is a very special wine with a profound sense of place from one of the oldest commercial Pinotage vineyards in the world, planted in 1953. When the maiden 1959 vintage won trophies galore, Pieter Krige Morkel was crowned South Africa’s new ‘king of wine’. His hands-off approach then is replicated today by winemaker Wilhelm to let the grace and wisdom of the old vine vineyards shine through.
Beyond their historic Pinotage, the estate also possesses one of the five oldest Cinsault vineyards in South Africa, planted in 1952, which now forms part of their illustrious Heritage range. But in 2026, the Heritage range will be joined by their newly branded 1976 Old Vine Chenin Blanc that used to go into their Eselsgraf Reserve Chenin Blanc. Another sublime highlight is undoubtedly their phenomenal Cabernet Franc, a wine that won the Red Wine Trophy at the Michelangelo Awards with the 2022 vintage, and again last year, with the 2023. In this tasting, I review the new release 2024, and predictably, it’s business as usual. Finally, there is a reason Stellenbosch is known as the “Kingdom of Cabernet” producing some of the most exciting examples of Cabernet Sauvignon in the Cape winelands.
Bright, juicy floral aromatics with green apple, green melon, rock candy and dried hay. Piercing concentration leads the charge on the palate, tangy, fleshy and delicious mouthfeel and weight supported by green apple pastille, pear and white peach. Beautiful typicity with punchy intensity.
Not since the release of the 2021s has there been a South African harvest that has created as much excitement among producers and consumers alike as the 2025 vintage. When you taste this stunning hand harvested bush vine Chenin Blanc you really see the vintage in all its glory, the aromatics deliciously pure, vibrant and lifted, bursting with complex layers of green apples, white peach rock candy, talcum powder, and a delicately sweet fynbos spice after its rained. The palate is pure, intense, and concentrated with a chiselled, tangy fresh acidity that coats the mouth, preparing your taste buds for bursts of Granny Smith green apple fruits with a splash of tart yellow grapefruit citrus. Crisp and pure yet crystalline and textural, this wine is like a very well-tuned orchestra with every instrument playing in perfect harmony. Drink this stunner before it sells out.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Bellevue Estate Heritage Old Vine Chenin Blanc 2025, WO Bottelary, Stellenbosch, 14% Abv.
This delightful new 2025 Chenin Blanc definitely sings the praises of this exceptional vintage in the Cape, boasting exotic aromatics of Muscat grape jelly, green honeydew melon, white peaches, and honeysuckle over complexing hints of wet straw and savoury leesy nuances. With such a ripe concentrated vintage such as 2025, you get to experience the full breadth and depth of this Old Vine Chenin Blanc that’s expertly balanced with tangy fresh acids, a delicate sweet and sour vibrancy together with a gently Granitic mineral salinity. Supremely harmonious and balanced with a majestic textural elegance, this youthful wine should develop a real personality with a few more years in bottle. This is another superb embryonic blockbuster from Bellevue. Drink from 2027 to 2040+.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Bellevue Estate Pinotage 2020, WO Bottelary, Stellenbosch, 14% Abv.
Classical aromatics of savoury earthy black berries, cured meats, tilled earth and sweet Christmas spices. Acids are bright and the red and black fruits crunchy and intense, the mid-palate sleek and savoury. Punchy, approachable, and easy drinking.
(Wine Safari Score: 91/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Bellevue Estate Malbec 2022, WO Bottelary, Stellenbosch, 13.5% Abv.
An exotic terroir driven aromatics laced with Buchu, fynbos and Eucalyptus complexity with black sappy berry fruits, chocolate peppermint crisp and dried herb spice. The acids are crisp and fresh, the black sappy berry fruits minty and attractive with brightness, a lifted black fruit energy and a sleek, mineral-tinged powdery tannin finish.
33/33/33 – new, second, 3rd fill oak barrels used for ageing the 40% Pinotage, blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. The aromatics show an attractive melange of creamy sappy black berry fruits, packed with earthy dried herbs, granitic minerality and savoury meaty hints. The acids are tangy and energetic, the red and black bramble berry fruits creamy, extracted and fine grained, finishing with serious power, minerality and length. Classy wine that punches above its weight.
The only thing possibly more exciting than a top Cabernet Sauvignon from Stellenbosch is a full throttle, five cultivar Cape Bordeaux Blend, and this 2023 is an assemblage of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot and Petit Verdot. The aromatics have many of the earthy, loamy, freshly tilled earth notes of the pure Cabernet Sauvignon but then reveals multiple extra layers of sweet violets, white blossoms, sweet black currants, black cherry and a delicate graphite minerality. The palate is plush, polished, and focused with a textural generosity consistent with the 2023 vintage, with all fruit brought in before the late season harvest rains. Once again, the mouthfeel is creamy, supple, and fine grained with sweet pliable tannins, soft well integrated tangy acids and a long, delicately toasty, brûléed finish. The oaking is expertly managed, marrying pure, plush fleshy fruits, leaving a sensation of hedonistic harmony and balance on the finish. A supremely well-constructed wine that also has legs for further beneficial ageing. Drink now and over the next 10 to 12+ years. Such a delight to drink.
Aged in 50/50 new and second fill French oak barrels for 22 to 24 months. The aromatics are deep and broody with layers of black berry, creme de cassis, damson plum, mulberry, tilled earth, vanilla pod and sweet Christmas spices. The palate breadth and balance is impressive, dense, tight grained, harmonious and intense without losing balance and elegance. This wine ticks a lot of boxes and shows a lot of commercial appeal.
Aged in 60% new and 40% second fill French oak barrels, the aromatics are pure and regal, a Cabernet Sauvignon expression that shows why Stellenbosch is truly world class. Deep, dark black fruited aromatics with creme de cassis, black cherry, and spicy mulberry with Christmas spices, hints of tannery leather, black chai tea and cigar box. The acids are fresh and crystalline but tightly interwoven with structured black fruits, subtle hints of leafy, earthy dried herb spices, finishing with length and intensity and a subtle mineral undertone. Very classy indeed with plenty of stuffing for a cooler, fresher vintage.
The Bottelary ward of Stellenbosch is prime Cabernet Sauvignon country and this delightful 2023 is a very classy expression, the aromatics deep, sumptuous and complex. There is an extra dimension of ripeness and density on the 2023 nose with deep, savoury tilled earth aromatics that melt into notes of wet tobacco leaf, earthy black currant and damson plum fruits with just a hint of pressed violet perfume. In the mouth, this wine is broad and creamy with the texture of velvet that is caressed by soft silky tannins, sweet fleshy black and blue berry fruits before a dusty, wet stone graphite-laden minerality on the finish. The extraction is expertly handled offering a plush, luxurious, fleshy depth of fruit with a genuinely accessible, generous opulence. So delicious already, why keep this too long in the cellar when you can enjoy its tangy, vibrant, fleshy opulence now. Drink now to 2036+.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Bellevue Estate Reserve Collection Cabernet Franc 2023, WO Bottelary, Stellenbosch, 14% Abv.
Aged in 100% New French oak for 20-21 months. Shows classic Cabernet Franc notes with great varietal typicity – cedar, spice, tree bark, dried herbs and perfumed black berry fruits. The palate is cool, crisp and distinguished with sweet baking herbs, earthy leafy spice, tea leaf, lead pencil and tangy fresh black berry fruits on the finish. Tight knit, grippy, densely fruited and quite complete for the vintage. Undoubtedly among the top expressions of Cabernet Franc in SA!
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Bellevue Estate Reserve Collection Cabernet Franc 2024, WO Bottelary, Stellenbosch, 13.5% Abv.
The Bellevue Estate’s Cabernet Franc quality is synonymous with premium quality winning multiple awards year after year. This 2024 is another outstanding example that combines the vintage condition’s translucent fruit purity and freshness with the winemaker’s pinpoint precision to yield a wine of outstanding beauty. The aromatics are stand out, supremely plush, perfumed and layered with sweet violets, sappy cedar, and cinnamon spices over hints of tea leaf, red currants and blue berries. Cool, precise, and attractively chiselled, there is a real elegant classicism to the texture, with satin soft tannins, bright lemon-like tangy acids and a long, piercing red fruited persistence on the finish. What a truly magnificent wine. Get your hands on a bottle at all costs! Drink now to 2036+.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Bellevue Estate Heritage Range Cinsault 2024, WO Bottelary, Stellenbosch, 13% Abv.
Undoubtedly, one of the most famous premium Cinsault reds produced in South Africa, this 2024 shows intricate, complex aromatics laced with rose petal, potpourri, raspberry herbal tea, red cherries, fynbos, dried herbs, dusty stony minerals and intricate Turkish delight nuances. The palate is tight knit, compact and intense, deliciously sweet fruited, incredibly concentrated and intense with a sleek, harmonious mineral texture. A phenomenal expression of old vine Cinsault that combines power, intensity, precision and purity. Simply breathtaking. Drink now to 2050+.
Few Pinotage wines are as evocative as the Old Vine wines from Bellevue Estate. Incredibly deep, dense, dark black fruited aromatics reveal notes of violets, black berries, chocolate peppermint crisp, sweet raspberries, berry herbal tea and white pepper notes. On the palate there’s a pronounced menthol brightness and tart berry freshness together with delicious, sweet Christmas spices, delicate fynbos hints and exotic Asian spices. Beautifully powerful with immense drinkability and accessibility with an underlying seriousness. This is premium Pinotage… but not as you know it. Drink now to 2041+.
The 2023 Reserve Pinotage is an impressively complex expression of this grape from one of South Africa’s finest proponents. The aromatics are deep and broody, revealing layers of polished mahogany, bay leaf spice, vivid black and blue berry fruits, mulberries, and subtle caramelized vanilla oak spice nuances. The palate is full, fleshy, and noticeably broad and glycerol with a vivid acid frame that balances the sweet black fruit concentration with a beautiful freshness and supple, delicately creamy tannins. A bold, fleshy, opulent style of Pinotage with plenty of character and seductive charm. Drink now to 2036+.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The wines of Bellevue Estate will be available in the UK soon from South African specialist merchant Museum Wines.
The 2025 Bordeaux vintage is defined by a paradox of extreme heat yet produced many wines with surprising elegance. After a mild winter, an exceptionally early and uniform flowering in mid-May set the stage for an accelerated growing season. However, the defining characteristic was a series of intense heatwaves in June and August, with temperatures peaking near 42°C.
The result was a year of remarkably low yields but also intense, pure concentration. Small, thick-skinned berries – particularly in the Merlot – produced wines with deep colour and rich phenolic structure. While the heat initially threatened to block ongoing ripening, critical rains in late August combined with cooler night temperatures preserved a “crystalline” acidity that distinguishes 2025 from the more opulent and hedonistic 2022 vintage.
Key Highlights:
• Quality vs. Quantity: Exceptional aromatic intensity and ripe tannins, though volumes are down roughly -15% due to heat-induced berry shrivelling.
• Terroir Success: Clay and limestone soils (notably in Saint-Émilion and Pomerol) thrived by regulating water stress.
• Style: Early tastings suggest a “modern classic” – combining the power of solar vintages with a refined, fresh finish and moderate alcohol levels (averaging 13.5–14%).
For collectors, 2025 stands as a “vigneron’s year,” where precise harvest timing was essential to balance its natural fruit density with graceful acids.
Petit Cantenac 2025, Saint Emilion Grand Cru, 13% Abv.
The 2025 Petit Cantenac stays true to the vintage and displays an incredibly intense, lifted, “crystalline” purity and perfume with piercing notes of violets, crushed red cherries, black currants and red currants with a delicate dusting of leafy spice, freshly cut cedar, and subtle notes of Asian five spice. The palate shows a mouthwatering crunchy structure, tightly delineated acids and a steely tension that envelops the bright red and black berry fruit concentration. The tannins are tense and sinewy rather than muscular, holding the ripe fruits in perfect balance. This is essentially a “modern classic” with a cool demeanour, crunchy bright acids together with a potent, focused depth of fruit. Forward and elegantly accessible in style but simultaneously quite a serious expression. Drink from 2028 to 2040+.
(Wine Safari Score: 92-94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Clos Cantenac 2025, Saint Emilion Grand Cru. 13.25% Abv.
Once again, the 2025 Clos Cantenac Saint Emilion Grand Vin is a 100% Merlot offering that will be aged for 12 months in 40% new oak barriques and 60% in second and third passage barrels. While this wine’s aromatics share an exotic, lifted exuberance with its junior sibling, Petit Cantenac, the perfume and fragrance is that much more intricate, broader, and more intense, showing sweet violets, rich ripe black berry fruits, crème de cassis, blue berries, black cherries and pronounced Christmas gateau nuances. There is a lingering hint of spicy new oak in the background, but this wine is decidedly plush and hedonistic with an impressive classical elegance. The palate is tight knit, cool and incredibly focused revealing a tight grained, stony minerality, hints of cigar box, tobacco leaf, black cherry compote and tart cassis on the finish. This wine possesses all the composure, freshness and seduction of a truly great Bordeaux vintage. Dink from 2028 to 2045+.
(Wine Safari Score: 94-96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
L’Innocence de Seraphine 2025, Pomerol, 13.5% Abv.
Many drinkers imagine Pomerol wines being 100% Merlot, but this example is a 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc assemblage. The aromatics are true to form – lush, plush, exotic and hedonistic with fragrant notes of sweet violets, red currants, black cherries and frais de bois wild strawberries. Complexing veins of black chocolate run deep into the wine, complimented by notes of wet tobacco and dried baking spices. The mouthfeel is full, glycerol and textural revealing hints of vanilla pod spice, picante black berries, creamy tannins and a savoury black liquorice finish. This wine has all the power of Pomerol fruit but with a slightly softer, more integrated, harmonious finish. This wine offers great value for Pomerol lovers. Drink from 2028 to 2040.
(Wine Safari Score: 92-93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Seraphine 2025, Pomerol, 13.5% Abv.
We often like to compare second wines to their Grand Vins but this Seraphine is in a completely different league. A blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, the wine will be aged in a selection of 300 litre new French oak barrels and amphorae. Thereafter, the wine is racked off into French oak barrels (45% new and 55% second and third fill) where it will be matured for 12-14 months to harmonise further. On the nose, this is pure hedonistic joy – vibrant, lifted and enticingly fresh and perfumed showing bay leaf and thyme spice. Notes of fresh violets, savoury black cherries, earthy loam, and damsons plum nuances melt into earthy black currants and a sappy wood spice persistence. The concentration is notable, the acid freshness and creamy fruit concentration simply breathtaking, buffered by incredibly supple, creamy fine grained tannins. An intricate, powerful, complex expression that is sure to impress Bordeaux lovers! Drink from 2028 to 2040.
(Wine Safari Score: 96-97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
EP and back vintages of Clos Cantenac and Chateau Seraphine are available from specialist UK merchant Museum Wines.
The 2025 Bordeaux vintage is defined by a paradox of extreme heat yet produced many wines with surprising elegance. After a mild winter, an exceptionally early and uniform flowering in mid-May set the stage for an accelerated growing season. However, the defining characteristic was a series of intense heatwaves in June and August, with temperatures peaking near 42°C.
The result was a year of remarkably low yields but also intense, pure concentration. Small, thick-skinned berries – particularly in the Merlot – produced wines with deep colour and rich phenolic structure. While the heat initially threatened to block ongoing ripening, critical rains in late August combined with cooler night temperatures preserved a “crystalline” acidity that distinguishes 2025 from the more opulent and hedonistic 2022 vintage.
Key Vintage 2025 Highlights:
• Quality vs. Quantity: Exceptional aromatic intensity and ripe tannins, though volumes are down roughly -15% due to heat-induced berry shrivelling.
• Terroir Success: Clay and limestone soils (notably in Saint-Émilion and Pomerol) thrived by regulating water stress.
• Style: Early tastings suggest a “modern classic” – combining the power of solar vintages with a refined, fresh finish and moderate alcohol levels (averaging 13.5–14%).
For collectors, 2025 stands as a “vigneron’s year,” where precise harvest timing was essential to balance its natural fruit density with graceful acids.
Chateau Haut-Breton Larigaudiere 2025, Margaux
A rich, ripe, generous aromatics with an accessible plushness tempered by graphite and wood spice notes. The palate is textbook Margaux – silky soft, seductive, and texturally incredibly fine with a deceptive voluminous breath and depth of fruit. A very harmonious classical rendition that should put on a little more muscle in the barrel. One of the finest expressions I have tasted yet from Haut Breton.
(Wine Safari Score: 94-95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau Tour Baladoz 2025, Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classe
This attractive Saint Emilion packs an impressive 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc, 6% Petit Verdot and 2% Malbec alongside a more traditional 70% Merlot component. The nose is creamy, plush and delicately savoury with a wealth of blue and purple fruits, a fragrant brightness and stony liquorice salinity. Creamy tannins are braced by a bright underlying acidity, caressed by the most velvety, creamy limestone minerality. Lovely dry extract, a full plush mid-palate and a very fine-grained finish. Harmony and balance personified.
(Wine Safari Score: 94-95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Chateau La Croizille 2025, Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classe
This flagship 4.5-hectare Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classe is a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and in 2025 shows a luxuriously plush aromatics of black cherry, damson plum and saline black currant fruits with a kiss of liquorice and graphite. Broad and silky on the palate, the power and concentration is clear to see with bright, crisp supporting acids, a delicately picante wood spice and a creamy black currant laden finish with very impressive concentration and depth. A really impressive, well finessed Right Bank expression that shows the true pedigree of the 2025 vintage.
(Wine Safari Score: 94-96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Wines are available direct from the De Schepper Family’s own negociant business ‘De Mour’. For more information and pricing, contact: anthony_crameri@orange.fr
Every year, one can point to the annual release of the Vilafonte Series C and Series M reds as two of the most important and noteworthy new Cape Bordeaux blends to hit the market. These two wines have, since their maiden releases in 2003, cultivated a committed global following among fine wine connoisseurs and passionate collectors alike. With the focus firmly on premium quality, each subsequent vintage is highly anticipated both in the wine trade and among consumers. The 2023 vintage was obviously a much more complicated harvest for many than either 2022 or 2021 due to persistent rain across much of the Cape, necessitating further clarification of Vilafonte’s picking dates from winemaker Chris de Vries.
“The 2023 vintage reminded us how swiftly light can turn to shadow, and how timing alone can separate fortune from misfortune” Chris de Vries opined. “Outstanding early conditions carried us through harvest, our final lots secured only days before March 4th brought a week of rain that might have rewritten the story entirely.” Picking at Vilafonte began on February 2nd and continued until March 1st, a slightly extended window, shaped by a warm first half of February followed by a cooler close. This shift tempered ripening, allowing balance and freshness to define the fruit.
Berry weights reflected the season: Merlot, Malbec, and Cabernet Franc were modestly smaller than average, lending natural concentration, while Cabernet Sauvignon berries were slightly larger, contributing generosity and an approachable tannin profile. Although March delivered over 60 mm more rain than the norm, the Vilafonte harvest was safely picked before the downpours, leaving the Vilafonte team among the fortunate few who carried the season’s promise intact into the cellar. The resulting wines show a poised tension between ripe black fruit and lifted freshness, framed by fine tannins and a classical structure. “Opulence is tempered by clarity, and the 2023s stand as wines of both immediate allure and assured longevity” Chris de Vries concluded.
Vilafonte Series C 2023, WO Paarl. 14.5% Abv.
The 2023 Series C is a blend of 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, 12% Malbec and 7% Cabernet Franc and offers up classic Vilafonte aromatics of sweet black currants, saline crème de cassis, blueberry compote and wet tobacco leaves. Fabulously opulent and exotic on the nose, the wine has all the Series C hallmarks that has made this one of the most desirable Cabernet Sauvignon blends produced in the Cape, brimming with not only intense pure black berry fruits but also complex earthy layers of tilled loam over hints of graphite, dried herbs and warm buttered brown breakfast toast. The palate is sophisticated, silky, and lithe, neither weighty nor muscular, but rather sleek, picante, and spicy with cedar and vanilla pod notes, a dusting of cocoa powder, and a weightless black currant fruit concentration. There is a youthful, sinewy freshness and a tightly wound core of energy that should see this wine age gracefully for a decade or two.
(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Vilafonte Series M 2023, WO Paarl. 14% Abv.
The 2023 Series M is a blend of 41% Merlot, 38% Malbec, 16% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc and displays a seriously opulent, showy Series M plushness and generosity combined with plenty of refinement and purity. The aromatics are vibrant and youthful revealing intense layers of blue and black berry fruits, bay leaf spice, damson plums and black cherry compote with a magical dusting of vanilla pod oak spice. In the mouth, the wine is marked with a fabulously creamy, silky texture, delicate notes of graphite and cocoa powder, saline crème de cassis and mulberry fruits with a pronounced mineral interplay on the complex finish. Once again, I’m super impressed at the intensity, power, and concentration Vilafonte achieves with their Series M cuvee – a wine that epitomises luxury, generosity, and sophistication. Drink on release until 2040+.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Vilafonte wines are imported to the UK and distributed to trade by agent John E. Fells.
Wim Truter is the current Cellar Master and Head Winemaker at the historic Meerlust Estate in Stellenbosch, South Africa, taking over from Chris Williams in 2020. He oversees the production of their renowned wines, including the famous Rubicon Bordeaux blend, working alongside winemaker Altus Treurnicht and long time owner Hannes Myburgh.
The iconic Meerlust Estate Rubicon Cape Bordeaux Blend.
So when Wim Truter and Deidre Taylor, the Meerlust head of sales and marketing, landed in London for a flying visit enroute to the Prowein trade fair in Germany, we caught up over lunch to taste two exciting new component wines – a Chardonnay 2025 and a pure Petit Verdot 2025 – as well as taking another look at the delicious new Rubicon 2023.
Wim has brought an exciting new level of precision, focus and renewal to all the wines in the Meerlust range, preparing this iconic Stellenbosch estate for a new era of global fine wine fame.
This vineyard Chardonnay component is planted alongside the Meerlust driveway next to the cemetery and is grown on rocky Greywacke and Shale soils. Fermented in concrete tanks and aged on its fine lees for 8 months with no malo, this wine is deliciously cool, crisp and crystalline, showing white blossoms, yellow citrus, crunchy pears and a hint of honeydew melon. But it’s on the palate you experience its zippy freshness, wound spring tension with a tangy yellow citrus fruit showing impressive glycerol weight and superb intensity and precision on the finish. Now bottled as a 10% portion of the 2025 Meerlust Estate Chardonnay blend.
(Wine Safari Score: 94-95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Meerlust Estate Petit Verdot 2025 (Bottled component)
One small concrete fermenter, basket pressed into 100% new Quintessence barrels, drawn off at 10 months, to make up around 4% of the Rubicon blend. Majestically rich and creamy, packed full of blue and purple fruits with a brûléed savoury plum compote component. Plush, cool and textural, the full dense palate shows incredible balance and harmony but never loses its bright, delicately tart underlying acid frame. Such perfect ripeness and balance, this could have been bottled on its own. Now there’s an idea for the Meerlust range!
(Wine Safari Score: 94-96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Cellar Master Wim Truter and Deidre Taylor.
It should be noted that 2025 was an exceptional red and white wine vintage in South Africa, so collectors should start drinking up back vintage bottles to make space in their cellars – there are going to be a wealth of “must have” releases coming soon!
The ribeye steaks we ate for lunch at top South African restaurant Kudu, were perfectly matched with a superb bottle of new release Meerlust Rubicon 2023 that is mellowing beautifully in bottle. This is, once again, the complete package – deep, textured and concentrated yet effortlessly balanced, finishing with a picante brûléed brown toast complexity. A class act that is sure to be one of the standout Cape Bordeaux blends of the vintage earning a worthy 96+/100 GSMW score. A big thank you to Wim and Deidre for sharing these delicious Meerlust treats.
The Meerlust Wines are distributed in the UK by Maison Marques et Domaines (MMD).
And just like that, Sassicaia 100 pointers seem to be like London buses, nothing for 31 years after the legendary 1985 and then finally, the monumental 2016 release which garnered a perfect score from almost every global critic who tasted it, with the 2021 and 2023 following closely behind. Attending the London-based global launch of the Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia 2023 release, I couldn’t help wondering out aloud if this phenomenon was a case of the market and critics finally catching up with the true Sassicaia style or had the wines really improved / changed markedly over the years?
Anyone who has drunk multiple back vintages of Sassicaia going back to the 1980s and 1990s will know that Tenuta San Guido has forged somewhat of a reputation for making memorable wines in less than memorable Tuscan vintages – a mind-blowing bottle of 1993 Sassicaia drunk a couple of years ago with friends a perfect case in point. I have very fortunately had the opportunity to taste the epic 1985 Sassicaia from bottle and magnum and it undoubtedly remains one of the great 100-point wines of perfection in modern winemaking history. Now, I just need to find a bottle of the infamous 1988 to taste, a wine that was fabled to be even better than the 1985!
Pricilla Incisa della Rocchetta, owner of Sassicaia.
The 2023 vintage in Bolgheri was marked by a cold winter and above-average rainfall followed by severe outbreaks of downy mildew that damaged leaves, forcing Tenuta San Guido into a brutal fruit selection regime that resulted in a -20% reduction in yields overall. Only wineries willing to make these ruthless viticultural sorting sacrifices succeeded in 2023. But they say it in Bordeaux and Burgundy almost every vintage now – that there are great wines produced in almost every vintage, good and bad, and that the best wines can often rank highly amongst the most compelling fine wines. This seems to be the case with Sassicaia in 2023, a vintage that will be remembered for “fruit, salinity and length,” said Tenuta San Guido’s General Manager Carlo Paoli.
As usual, the Sassicaia 2023 vintage was tasted alongside the new releases of Tenuta San Guido’s Le Difese and Guidalberto 2024.
Tenuta San Guido Le Difese 2024, IGT Toscana, 13.5% Abv.
The 2024 Le Difese is a blend of 75% Sangiovese and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon and reveals a cool, dark fruited, broody aromatics with a delicately seductive perfume of violets, cherry blossom, black currants, and damson plum with a subtle dusting of vanilla pod spice and aniseed root. The palate is crystalline and pure, fine boned, fresh, and supple with sleek sinewy red berry fruits, red cherry, cranberry and Victoria plum. The acids are linear and bright, the tannins silky soft and pinpoint with a delicate mineral grip on the finish. Once again, almost more Pinot Noir in character and elegance but incredibly seductive. Drink now to 2034+. (375,000 bottles produced.)
(Wine Safari Score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Tenuta San Guido Guidalberto 2024, IGT Toscana, 13.5% Abv.
A blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon and 48% Merlot, the Guidalberto 2024 shows a noticeably more lifted, perfumed, intense aromatics than its big brother Sassicaia, with fragrant rose petals, pressed violets, and wild jasmine overlayed with red and black berry fruits, black cherry and a br?l?ed savoury brown breakfast toast nuance. The palate is sleek, fresh, and piercing, deliciously bright and mouth-wateringly tart with red cherry rock candy, cranberry, dried herbs, mint leaf, and suave tight grained chalky tannins on the finish. A delightfully exotic, elegant, stylish Guidalberto with weightless concentration and a finessed intensity. Drink from 2027 to 2040+. (400,000 bottles produced.)
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia 2023, Sassicaia-Bolgheri DOC, 14% Abv.
This 87% Cabernet Sauvignon and 13% Cabernet Franc blend is fabulous bright in the glass with translucent cherry ruby red. The aromatics are slightly subdued and broody with hints of lavender and violets, tobacco leaf, and tilled earth. There is a real melange of red and black berry fruits with a leafy musk undertone. The palate is brighter and more accessible than the nose – generous, vibrant, and forthcoming with deliciously fine-grained chalky tannins, layers of mineral limestone intertwined with tart red cherry, red currant and sour plum. Plenty of stuffing and dry extract but made all the more overt and mouthwatering by the cool, crisp crystalline acids. This is a very polished, harmonious Sassicaia, supremely balanced and substantial, harmonious yet majestically elegant. Drink from 2028 to 2045+. (280,000 bottles produced.)
(Wine Safari Score: 98+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Tenuta San Guido wines are imported into the UK by Armit Wines. Sassicaia 2023 was released at £1,250 per 6 Underbond.
