Rabelais

Another Two Classic Stellenbosch Reds Released by Thelema Mountain Vineyards – Tasting the Rabelais 2022 Cape Bordeaux Blend and The Mint Cabernet Sauvignon 2022…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

The 2022 vintage in Stellenbosch was smaller than usual but widely considered to be very good if not excellent for some. In general, the growing season was on the cooler side but there was little in the way of wild weather to cause much disruption. The winter was cold but saw enough rainfall to rebalance depleted water within the soil, while a chilly spring also brought rain, delaying both budburst and flowering. 

Eventually summer brought some much-needed heat with some grapes even affected by sunburn. However, rain still fell in certain areas, which, combined with the summer heat, raised humidity and the risk of both disease and rot. Overall, the mishmash of weather led to a delayed harvest and varied yields – sometimes dramatically depending on the region – with some having larger harvests than usual, while others having a far smaller one. Regions like Stellenbosch however produced some fantastic wines, with the reds in particular looking to be very good indeed.

With most premium Bordeaux Blend and Cabernet Sauvignon producers such at Thelema currently releasing and selling their 2022 reds, the style of the wines has become clearer after barrel maturation and bottling. The consensus appears to be that the 2022s will be remembered as a stylistic mix between the ripe, warm, opulent flavours of the 2020 vintage embellished with some more noteworthy similarities from the 2017 vintage – namely its elegance, finesse, weightless concentration and intensity of fruit purity.  

Thelema Mountain Vineyards Rabelais Cape Bordeaux Blend 2022, WO Stellenbosch, 14% Abv.

2.2 g/l RS | 5.7 g/l TA | 3.53 pH

The 2022 Rabelais sticks to the tried and tested blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Petit Verdot. A dense, dark, and opaque purple-black colour in the glass, this young, powerful Cape Bordeaux blend shows a relatively restrained, classical aromatics that require more than a little coaxing out of the glass. For a warm year, the nose is modestly fruity, dominated in youth by notes of crushed granite minerality, graphite, fynbos, cigar smoke and dried herb spices. On the palate, the wine is notably cool, saline, structured and chiselled, slowly releasing pockets of black currant, black cherry, blue berry and damson plum fruit at a very gentle, measured pace before delicate hints of sweet cedar, thyme and capsicum spice emerge. The tannins are dry and stony but very fine-grained adding to an overall tight knit texture that’s incredibly classy and grown up. This is another very impressive flagship blend from the Webbs. Drink from 2026 to 2040+.

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

Thelema The Mint Cabernet Sauvignon 2022, WO Stellenbosch, 14% Abv.

18.g/l RS | 5.5g/l TA | 3.56pH

The source of the “mint” character in this wine is attributed to the airborne transfer from the Eucalyptus trees which border this specific Cabernet Sauvignon Vineyard, to the grape berries. As the berries adsorbs Eucalyptol, a compound responsible for the aroma, this compound subsequently becomes dissolved in the wine during the fermentation process, giving the wine a “minty” character unique to this vineyard. The grapes were de-stalked, hand sorted, crushed and pumped into stainless steel for a 6-day cold soak on the skins before fermentation. The wine was then aged for 18 months in 40% new French oak barrels. The aromatics are deep, alluring and complex boasting notes of bruleed coffee beans, minty black chocolate, picante black currants and pithy black cherries with a subtle kiss of padrón pepper herbaceous spice. The palate is medium bodied, silky soft and lithe, the tannins incredibly fine grained and polished, with notes of saline black berries, mulberries, milk chocolate and black plum with a light dusting of dried baking herbs and green tea notes. In its youth, the minty character of the wine is fairly subdued, slightly obscured by a chocolatey coffee bean spice. Give this wine 2 to 3 years to flesh out further and fan its peacock tail, and then drink over 10+ years. 

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The Thelema Wines are distributed by Enotria Wines in the UK.

Thelema Mountain Vineyards Release Their Finest Premium Red Wine Yet – Tasting the Rabelais Cape Bordeaux Blend 2021…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

The Thelema Rabelais red blend originally started out as the prestigious Thelema Cape Winemakers Guild blend before evolving into the Rabelais label with the 2007 vintage, being produced originally from only Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. From 2009, Petit Verdot started to replace the Merlot portion and now the blend appears fairly settled at approximately a 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Petit Verdot mix. The Rabelais represents the very best Bordeaux components from the Thelema range where the wines clearly show concentration, polished ripe tannins and undeniable refinement.

The 2021 vintage in the Cape was, by most accounts, extremely good. The growing season began with a cooler than average winter, which saw some heavy rains, which helped restore some of the water tables ravaged by the severe drought between 2015 and 2019. The cool weather continued into the spring, delaying budburst, while the rains raised the risk of rot and disease. Frost also struck surprisingly several times, damaging new vine growth, however, the vines were able to bounce back reasonably well and flowering was largely a success. Summer was benign, albeit cooler than normal, and grapes were slow to reach phenolic ripeness – although their aromatics and acidity were perfectly preserved – and the harvest was delayed beneficially by several weeks. Despite the delay, good conditions prevailed, and the harvest was a massive success. Some even suggest that this is the best vintage in the Cape in the past two decades.

Thelema Rabelais Red Blend 2021, WO Stellenbosch, 14% Abv.

Another tantalisingly seductive 2021 vintage wine meets you in the form of the Rabelais 2021. Now generally regarded as one of the top Cape Bordeaux Blends produced in the Western Cape, this new vintage made from 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Petit Verdot typifies the cool, taut, linear tension and weightless purity of the vintage. But as elegant and sleek as it is, it is not simply a 2017 lookalike, showing an equal or greater fruit concentration, ripe intense resolved tannins that are assertive but incredibly fine grained, and a piecing crystalline freshness. The aromatics burst with black cherry, tart saline cassis, damson plum, sweet rose petals, earthy balsamic and pickled walnut nuances, with subtle earthy bruleed charcoal hints, stewed blueberries and a deliciously solid core of black berry fruits. This is an incredibly impressive, structured, fine wine of note that imbues class, pedigree and sublime balance to the entire Cape Bordeaux Blend category. In my reconning, this is the very best Rabelais produced to date. Drink now and over the next 20+ years.

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

Starting 2022 In Style – Reviewing the Sensational New Thelema Estate Rabelais 2019…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

The Thelema Rabelais red blend originally started out as the prestigious Thelema Cape Winemakers Guild blend before evolving into the Rabelais label with the 2007 vintage, being produced originally from only Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. From 2009, Petit Verdot started to replace the Merlot portion and now the blend appears fairly settled at approximately a 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Petit Verdot mix. The Rabelais represents the very best Bordeaux components from the Thelema range where the wines clearly show concentration, polished ripe tannins and undeniable refinement.

As with so many Cape Bordeaux Blends of this quality, the Rabelais cuvee has now earned itself an impressive following, both at home and globally, making the wine increasingly sought after and necessitating tighter and tighter allocations at the estate. If you missed the impressive 2015 or the eye wateringly great 2017, it’s time to track down some of the delicious 2019.

Thelema Mountain Vineyards Rabelais 2019, WO Stellenbosch, 13.5% Abv.

The 2019 Thelema Rabelais is another incredibly refined creation being a blend of 90% Simonsberg Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Petit Verdot. Since the 2015 vintage, this flagship wine has shifted into a sixth gear and is now hitting some exceptionally high quality notes. Always classical and composed, the aromatics boast notes of perfumed violets, dried herbs, black cherry and seductive hints of crème de cassis with undertones of sweet cedar wood spice, brûléed coffee beans, brown toast and some dusty mineral strands of crushed slate and graphite. The palate is silky soft, predictably sleek and polished and displays impressive textural elegance with fine filigree tannins, fresh acids, subtle complex layers of black currant, cherry cola, capsicum and breakfast espresso. This is another head-turning, eye-opening wine that displays wonderful balance and harmony. Fabulously pure, precise and regal on so many levels. Simply outstanding. Drink from 2024 to 2040+.

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

Reviewing The New Release Thelema Cabernet Sauvignon 2018…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Always one of the more notable single varietal Cabernet Sauvignon releases of the year, this 2018 vintage from Thelema Mountain Vineyards is certainly a wine that is going to appeal to collectors of premium Stellenbosch Cabernet. With some of the most exceptional terroir in the Western Cape, Thelema have rightly resurrected and restored their premier league standing as one of the most sought after and age worthy wine producers in the Cape, a position they held throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.

This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is produced from three clones of Cabernet, namely 46c, 169A and 338c which were planted at 2,000 to 2,300 vines per hectare in 2002, 2003 and 2008 on decomposed granitic Hutton soils. 2018 was a warm dry vintage with a late start resulting in a smaller crop yield of well structured, intense grapes. All fruit was destemmed, crushed and pumped into stainless steel tanks and saw two aerated pump-overs per day during fermentation before being racked into barrels for malolactic fermentation and an additional 18 months of ageing in French oak barrels, 40% of which were new.

A lot of consumers have stocked up their cellars with a good proportion of wines from the 2015 and 2017 vintages and quite rightfully so. These were probably the two greatest vintages modern-era winemaking has ever seen in South Africa. But I would caution consumers on tucking into these two great vintages too early in the same way many European consumers did with the opulent and seductive 2009 and 2010 Bordeaux reds. Indeed, they were very hard to resist such was their immediate overt appeal. My advice would be to buy into the 2018s and 2019s that are being released in South Africa at the moment to allow the more coveted 2015s and 2017s to be savoured on more special occasions in the future.

Thelema Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2018, WO Stellenbosch, 13.83% Abv.

2.1g/l RS | 3.48pH | 5.7g/l TA

On opening the 2018 Thelema Cabernet Sauvignon, it is clear to see that this is a cooler, leaner vintage style. The aromatics are about as classic as you’ll find for premium Stellenbosch Cabernet with an initially high toned exuberance of pressed violets, tilled earth, iodine, kelp, black currant together with very well integrated notes of sweet sandal wood, cedar spice with the obligatory broody baritone graphite nuances never far away. On the palate the wine begins with a steely textural sternness with plenty of tightly wound spring tension, saline cassis, black berry and bright crunchy acids. Allowed to breath for 5 to 6 hours, this serious wine starts to shed some of its linearity to gain extra palate layers of sweet fleshy black berry fruits, complex spicy tannins and a long dark chocolate and black currant finish. Cellar this classic vintage for ideally 2-3+ years more before revisiting and drink comfortably over the next 10-15 years.

(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Thelema Rabelais 2017 – Tasting and Assessing One of the Best Cape Icon Bordeaux Blends…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 8 Comments

The Thelema Rabelais is a blend of the best Bordeaux varietal components from Thelema’s estate vineyards in Stellenbosch. The 2014 was suitably impressive in quality and was lauded as one of the best Bordeaux blends of the vintage on the South African market. But of course the epic 2015 vintage was a game changer, shifting to 6th gear in terms of quality, purity, balance and intensity.

The 2017 vintage was again a selection of the very best barrels identified and earmarked after harvest. The Cabernet Sauvignon vines were planted in 2002 on decomposed granite Hutton soils at a density of 2000 vines per hectare. The Petit Verdot vines were planted shortly afterwards in 2003.

The grapes were de-stalked, hand sorted, crushed and then fermented in stainless steel after a two day cold soak. After fermentation, the wine was left on its skins for two more days before pressing and then racked into 100% new French 225 litre oak barrels for 20 months of ageing.

(RS 2.0 g/l , pH 3.39, TA 6.2 g/l. 14 Abv.)

Thelema Rabelais 2017, WO Stellenbosch, 14 Abv.

The 2017 Thelema Rabelais Bordeaux blend sticks to its more recent successful recipe of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon with just a 13% splash of Petit Verdot to add extra interest. A fabulously deep garnet-purple colour, this expertly constructed work of vinous art slowly unfurls in the glass revealing complex notes of crushed black currants, earthy black plum, warm black berry crumble, sweet clove and cedar spice. There are also some distinctive dusty Cabernet Sauvignon aromas that mix harmoniously with notes of half-smoked cigars together with charged perfumed tones of violets, graphite and sweet black chai tea. Medium bodied and supremely tight knit and focused, there is a piercingly arctic fresh line of acidity that cuts through the plush textured fruit concentration like a surgeon’s scalpel through water paper. The intensity is awesome and the all round richness and opulence held tightly in check by the acids but also the super weightless, fine-grained polished marble tannins. The 2015 Rabelais was such an astonishingly great wine that it takes a modicum of courage to even suggest that this 2017 expression is every bit its equal and may well be superior. This great wine truly encapsulates the essence of where South African fine wine has come from but also where it is today. A wine that will give endless pleasure from release but has all the requisite building blocks to age gracefully for 20+ years. An exceptional must have Cape icon red. 

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

Majesty and Power with Sublime Beauty – Tasting the Monumental New Thelema Rabelais 2015 Red Blend…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ 2 Comments

Starting life out as the prestigious Thelema Cape Winemakers Guild blend, this famous South African red wine changed to the Rabelais label with the 2007 vintage, being produced originally from only Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. From 2009, Petit Verdot started to replace the Merlot portion and now the blend appears fairly settled at approximately a 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Petit Verdot mix.

 

With most 2015s already long since released, there can’t be more than a handful of epic Cape icon reds from the 2015 vintage that have not yet been proposed to the market. The iconic Kanonkop Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 is one such wine but undoubtedly, others will emerge. But what they don’t all have is a rock solid track record and of course a historical producer prestige worthy of the finest global collector. They just don’t come much more famous than Thelema, and without doubt, I can see this wine reigniting the engines of passion and collectability for this winery yet again on a global scale.

 

Thelema Rabelais 2015, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5 Abv.

What must surely be among the last of the great renowned 2015 Cape reds to be released, the Rabelais 2015 Bordeaux blend is an epic rendition of this classic Cape wine. Supremely dark, dense and almost overwhelming, this wine speaks loudly, boldly but also incredibly intelligently and at no point courts excess or any extremes of style. The nose is fantastically deep, dark and intense with hints of campfire ember smoke, black currant pastille allure, maritime salinity and a subtle note of freshly cut hedgerow. There is an oak imprint, but finer and more integrated at this “youthful” age it couldn’t be with the vanilla pod spice melting into seductive notes of cedar, cassis, graphite, granitic minerality and stony quarry dust tannins. I loved the 2013 expression of this wine and in preparation for this rating retasted the majestic Rabelais 2014 for added perspective. In the end, it is as clear as day that the Thelema Rabelais 2015 not only represents a benchmark of quality within their range but also a high point of hedonistic, compact opulence that may not be repeated at this level for a decade or more. A reassuringly bold, restrained, classical 2015 that will undoubtedly serve to move the market for this great vintage ever upward in desire and demand. Drink from 2021 to 2042+

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