Eden

The New Raats Family Wines High Density Eden Single Vineyard 2023 Wines Rated and Reviewed…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

The Eden range was originally held up as statement wines by Bruwer Raats and others as perfect examples of what the Cape’s best terroirs could yield with relatively young vines if they are planted on the correct sites, with the correct rootstocks at the correct density. ‘Quality by design’ was and remains Bruwer’s mantra as well as his answer to the Old Vine movement, which, however admirable the cause, started to steal all the limelight and all the wine critic column inches away from top producers “planting the old vines of the future” as Bruwer put it so succinctly. 

With first vintages released with the 2014 vintage, we roll the clock forward now to mark the release of the 2023 vintage, and they’re another cracking set of wines that are sure to sell out immediately on release both locally and internationally yet again.

Bruwer in London launching the Eden 2023 vintages.

Eden High-Density Single Vineyard Chenin Blanc 2023, WO Polkadraai Hills, 12.5% Abv.

They don’t call Bruwer Raats the Chenin King for nothing! This incredible high-density Chenin Blanc comes from a small 0.6-hectare block planted in 2009 and was matured 60% in concrete egg and 40% in new oak. The aromatics are beautifully detailed with top notes of white peach, honeysuckle, white blossoms and dusty granitic minerality with subtle hints of wet straw, yellow apples and a leesy biscuit nuance. In the mouth, this majestic Chenin Blanc is broad and mouth coating, filling the palate with yellow stone fruits, peach and green apples, pithy phenolics and a classic Polkadraai Hills wet stone minerality on the long, lingering finish. This is another phenomenal Chenin Blanc release from Bruwer Raats, that comfortably sits amongst the country’s top examples. Drink on release and over the next 15+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The Eden vineyard at sunrise in July 2025 with the chickens keeping the vineyard pest free and fertilised.

Eden High-Density Single Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2023, WO Polkadraai Hills, 13% Abv.

The 10th vintage of this incredible single vineyard Cabernet Franc can leave no doubts in any critics’ mind that this wine ranks among the finest Cabernet Franc reds produced anywhere in the world. Sourced from a tiny 0.2-hectare vineyard in the Polkadraai Hills, the fermentation sees a small amount of whole bunch fermentation before being matured in one new barrel for circa 10 months before a further passage of time in older used barrels. The aromatics are beautifully intense and seductive with fragrant perfumed notes of violets, cherry blossoms, lavender, and incense before a cornucopia of red and black berry fruits, pink musk, potpourri, and cranberry emerge. In the mouth, the full power and majesty of this impressive wine are laid bare for all to see, with a piercing small berry fruit concentration that’s tightly wrapped in a fresh, bright tangy acidity. Incredible focus and precision on display with subtle earthy hints of tilled earth, porcini mushrooms, led pencil, blood orange and ruby grapefruit nuances on the long velvety finish. A more sophisticated and polished Cabernet Franc you simply will not find. Drink on release and over the next 15 to 20 years.

(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Raats Vlag Vineyard Selection Polkadraai Hills Cabernet Franc 2023, WO Polkadraai Hills, 13.5% Abv.

The Raats maiden release Vlag 2022 Cabernet Franc cuvee took the market a little by surprise last year, but fairly swiftly, this wine gained a solid momentum and sold out very quickly. The grapes come from two Vlaeberg vineyards in the Polkadraai Hills, close to the Raats Family winery. One third was matured in concrete egg, one third in foudre and one third in oak barrels with a small percentage of new oak. The aromatics are fabulously lifted and perfumed, packed full of violets and rose petals, fresh pencil shavings, and dried herbs over notes of red currants, black currants, black cherry, and spicy cedar. The palate is tightly interwoven, the fruit, acid, and tannin balance simply seamless, boasting an impressive concentration and density that’s fine boned, incredibly detailed, and precise. This striking 2023 feels more integrated and ‘complete’ compared to the 2022 at the same moment in time, suggesting a very successful future lies ahead. Drink this beauty on release and over the next 10 to 15+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The Raats Eden wines are imported into the UK by Alliance Wines and offered pre-release to private clients by South African specialist merchant Museum Wines.

Raats Family Wines Raises the Cabernet Franc Stakes Still Higher with the Release of their Maiden Vlag Vineyard Selection Cuvée 2022 Alongside their Eden Single Vineyard Icon…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

When Bruwer Raats set out in 2000 to champion Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc, who would have thought he would be where he is today, having claimed the premium high ground so successfully, consistently producing arguably some of South Africa’s best Chenin Blanc whites and certainly South Africa’s most respected Cabernet Franc reds. Indeed, when it comes to this once quirky Loire red cultivar, Bruwer’s Raats Family Wines Cabernet Franc and Raats Eden High Density Cabernet Franc must surely be regarded as some of the most profound Cabernet Franc expressions produced anywhere in the world today, including in the motherland region of the Loire itself.

Mini Eden Cabernet Franc vertical – 2017, 2020 and 2022.

Over the past decade, the consumer tide has certainly turned back in favour of premium Cabernet Franc, with its delicate floral perfume, subtle leafy red and black fruits, and its suave, elegant sensual texture all built around fine silky tannins and a mouth-watering acidity. The mean, green pyrazines of years gone by have been well and truly banished both in South Africa as well as across Europe where sales of Cabernet Franc wines are once again flourishing. One needs to look no further than the cultivar’s newly found planting popularity in Bolgheri and Coastal Tuscany to witness its broad international appeal in not only Bordeaux blends but in single varietal wines as well.

The UK launch tasting at La Trompette Restaurant in London.

The latest new release tasting took on extra meaning this year with the introduction of Bruwer Raats’ first new wine for almost a decade. It was of course 10 years ago with the 2014 vintage that Raats Family Wines launched the high-density single vineyard Eden Chenin Blanc and Eden Cabernet Franc, which is now finally being joined by the maiden Vlag Vineyard Selection Polkadraai Hills Cabernet Franc 2022, that Bruwer describes as “a celebration of Cabernet Franc… but executed in a new style.” The wine is a blend of two single Polkadraai Hills vineyards, one from lower slope vines planted in 2008 and one from high mid-slope vines planted in 2002. The resulting wine was aged in 33% concrete egg, 33% oak barrels (8% new French), and 33% in large foudre. The new releases are expected to retail in the UK for £75 per bottle for the Vlag and £115 per bottle for the Eden (R1,600 and R2,950 per bottle in South Africa). Both will be extremely tightly allocated as per usual.

Raats Family Wines Vlag Vineyard Selection Polkadraai Hills Cabernet Franc 2022, WO Polkadraai Hills, Stellenbosch, 13% Abv.

A fabulously rich, perfumed aromatics with plenty of fine detail, revealing an intriguing depth and power but also a crystalline clarity and purity of fruit. There is initially a subtle earthy, savoury black fruited note on opening which soon gives way to more elaborate aromas of pressed violets, cherry blossom, rose petals, thyme and hints of sandalwood and sweet cedar spice. This is an architectural masterpiece with finer lines and a more harmonious symmetry than even Enzo Ferrari could ever have conjured up. Beautifully weightless and texturally caressing in the mouth, the tannins are grippy, incredibly fine grained, but equally silky soft, balancing the complex layers of saline cassis, red currant, and red cherry fruit concentration to perfection. A wine with not only incredible precision but also a vibrant energy that is brought to life by seamlessly integrated zippy acids. Quite simply, this wine is an absolute pleasure to sip and savour. Not quite an iron fist in a velvet glove, but certainly an impressively powerful tannin profile combined with a majestic fruit purity. A Cabernet Franc for Cote Rotie drinkers? Maybe. Drink on release and over the next 10 to 15+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Raats Family Wines Eden High-Density Single Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2022, WO Polkadraai Hills, Stellenbosch, 13% Abv.

The Eden 2022 is another ultra confident showstopper from Bruwer Raats’ tiny 0.2-hectare vineyard. This pristine Eden Cabernet Franc displays the most tantalising intensity and florality on the nose with a notable depth, seductive power and a piercing perfume focus. High toned, lifted and utterly beguiling, the aromatics display an exotic fanned peacock’s tail of pressed violets, cherry blossom and dried lavender over notes of oregano, dried thyme, sweet cherry compote, saline crème de cassis, oystershell, pencil shavings and delicate blueberry rock candy nuances. The palate is always underpinned by incredibly fine tannins but with this 2022, the vivacity, concentration and freshness of the accompanying acids bring immeasurable joy to the palate, seamlessly counterbalancing the complex red and black berry fruit intensity. This wine is all about purity, precision, and persistence, with a mouthfeel texture of silk and the most polished fine-grained granitic mineral tannins imaginable. This is surely as close as you are going to get to perfection with a young, energetic, premium Cabernet Franc in South Africa? Drink on release an over the next 10 to 15+ years. (598 bottles produced.)

(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

All Eyes Are On Raats Family Wines As they Prepare to Release Their Eden High Density Single Vineyard 2021 Chenin Blanc…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

I tasted this profound new release from the Raats Family Winery back in October 2022 with Bruwer Raats at his farm and featured it as part of my longer write-up of new Raats and Bruwer Vintners releases. But such is the magnificence of this wine, and specifically the 2021, that I thought I would repost my review individually in case anyone missed it. This new 2021 is undoubtedly one of the best and most serious Chenin Blancs Bruwer Raats has released during his illustrious career and certainly a wine collectors will not want to miss.

The Eden 2021 Chenin Blanc is made from fruit grown in a beautifully manicured 13 to 17 year old Chenin Blanc vineyard alongside the Raats Family Winery in Stellenbosch on the Vlaeberg Road in the Polkadraai Hills. When Bruwer Raats released the first vintage of his high density planted Montpellier Clone Chenin Blanc in 2014, the wine represented a culmination of years of planning and work to produce a wine unlike anything else that had been produced in South Africa. Now in its eighth vintage, Bruwer’s vision of producing a premium white wine of unrivalled quality is finally being realised.

Raats Family Eden High-Density Single Vineyard Chenin Blanc 2021, WO Polkadraai Hills, 13% Abv.

With only 1,734 bottles produced, the wine was aged in 50% concrete egg and 50% oak barrels and reveals a magical melange of fresh orange citrus, tangerine, white peach and Granny Smith apple fruits over a very subtle maritime salinity and granitic minerality. The palate is intense and linear, ultra focused and fresh but layered with generous fruit concentration but also overt minerality and wet river pebble nuances. An incredibly impressive expression of ultra premium Chenin Blanc. Drink from 2025 and over the next 20+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

New Release Preview – Tasting the Raats Family Wines Eden High Density Single Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2020…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 2 Comments

Bruwer Raats has been at the forefront of premium Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc production in South Africa for over 20 years. Now that these two varieties are riding high on a wave of global collector popularity, it is easy to forget the hard yards that were navigated all those years ago when critics wondered why Bruwer Raats persisted with championing two varieties that were broadly speaking unfashionable with little to no mainstream popularity.

Nowadays, Bruwer is lauded for his premium creations of Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc, none more so than for the small production Eden Cabernet Franc produced with extreme precision viticulture, or “quality by design” as Bruwer likes to describe his viticulture and winemaking. I recently caught up in London with Bruwer to taste his new releases.

Coming from a 0.2ha high density vineyard (8000 vines per hectare) meticuously planned and planted 11 years ago by Bruwer Raats at his Polkadraai property in Stellenbosch, 5% of the grapes were whole bunch fermented before being aged for 8 months in new French oak, followed by a further 10 months elevage in older oak barrels.

Raats Eden High Density Single Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2020, 14% Abv.

The Raats Eden Cabernet Franc is always classical and impressively premium in feel and this 2020 is certainly no different. The aromatics are initially tight and compact at this embryonic stage of development before slowly blossoming into a pristinely pure, precise and wonderfully perfumed offering showing notes of violets, lilac, rose petals, pink musk, sweet sandalwood and subtle hints of crème de cassis, earthy mulberry and sweet vanilla pod spice. The palate displays an incredible tensile linearity together with fabulously compact, tight grained tannins and a sleek graphite laden minerality. This small production wine flaunts its premium pedigree, its supremely manicured textural elegance and effortless finesse to perfection. There is no mistaking that the high-density planting lends an extra dimension of intensity and concentration to the wine. Allow this wine a few more years in the cellar before enjoying over the next 15 to 20+ years. (359 bottles produced.)

(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Wines available to the trade in the UK from Alliance Wines.

A Veritable Garden of Eden – Tasting the New Raats Family Wines Eden High Density Chenin Blanc 2018…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

The Eden 2018 Chenin Blanc is made from fruit grown in a beautifully manicured 10 to 14 year old Chenin Blanc vineyard alongside the Raats Family Winery in Stellenbosch on the Vlaeberg Road in the Polkadraai. When Bruwer Raats released the first vintage of his high density planted Montpellier Clone Chenin Blanc in 2014, the wine represented a culmination of years of planning and work to produce a wine unlike anything else that had been produced in South Africa.

What Bruwer, known as ‘the Chenin King’ achieved with his young vines back then is genuinely astonishing. But the fine tuning and understanding of these young vineyards has never stopped and with the UK release of the fourth vintage imminent (there was no 2017), this wine has clearly built up an impressive cult following among serious wine lovers, collectors and connoisseurs… for what is found inside a bottle of Eden Chenin Blanc is nothing short of profound.

Raats Family Winery High Density Eden Chenin Blanc 2018, WO Stellenbosch

This high density vineyard planted to the Montpellier Chenin Blanc clone has become more and more established year after year, enough so to already start to display unique vineyard terroir features in the same way you would see in the greatest single vineyards of the Loire or Burgundy. The 2018 exhibits an impressively tight, taut and focused aromatic profile that teases the senses with the most intricate and intense mineral nuances while simultaneously offering up a veritable kings banquet of the most complex array of yellow orchard fruits and white citrus. Regal and noble in every sense, this is a wine born from the fruit of a vineyard planted with the most meticulous planning and precision viticulture. The resulting complexity is clear for all to see with layer upon layer of liquid minerality, wet grey slate, peach skins, wet thatch and sweet orange pastille candied notes wafting effortlessly out of the glass. On the palate, there is certainly no lack of vigour either with a bright, vibrant acidity from the 100% decomposed granite soils that lend an extra dimension of linearity that has become another hallmark of the Eden style of Chenin Blanc and is just one of the factors which helps guarantee this wines age worthiness. The palate of this 2018 radiates a crystalline flesh and depth, Lalique-like fruit purity and accessibility combined with an impressive mandarin orange, white peach, fresh fennel and a salty, briney finish twined with a resurgent granitic minerality. Slightly more open knit on release that either the 2015 or 2016, this new expression is nevertheless a thing of wonder and beauty.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)