Rustenberg - John X Merriman, Stellenbosch - 2015 (750ml)

Wine Composition

56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot, 1% Malbec 

Winemakers Comments

A powerful wine that rewards aging. In its youth the wine is worth decanting and expresses cassis, black currant and dark fruits complemented with cigar tobacco and sour cherry notes. As the wine ages and its fine grained tannins soften a softer more savoury palate develops revealing wonderful drinkability and tertiary complexity.

Awards

Technical Analysis

Alcohol Percentage

14.5% vol 

TA

pH

3.57 

RS

3.6 g/l  

Vinification

The vineyards emerged from a deep, long dormancy after the wet and cold Winter of 2013 into ideal spring conditions resulting in high cropping levels across all varieties. The summer of 2014 was cool with no major heatwaves and intermittent rain resulting in the production of lower alcohol white wines that enjoyed a longer than usual ripening period, while the reds from this vintage display restraint and finesse. Crushed and destemmed fruit, pumped over during ferment used for extraction while stainless steel tanks for fermentation vessel. It has cultured active dry wine yeast with an extended maceration for +- 7 days, 100% aged for 20 Months, 35% New French Barriques; 65% 2nd & 3rd fill. Fining agents used are egg white (Albumen) with an aging potential of 10 to 15 years from vintage under ideal cellaring conditions. 

Winemaker

Name - Randolph Christians  

Winery

Rustenberg has a wine-growing history dating back to 1682, when Roelof Pasman from Meurs, near the Rhine, recognised its wine-growing potential. By 1781 some 3000 cases of wine were produced on the farm. Production doubled by the end of the century and a new cellar was built. Wine has been bottled at this cellar for an unbroken period since 1892.

In the early 1800s Rustenberg was divided by owner Jacob Eksteen and a section was given to his son-in-law, who named it Schoongezicht and sold it soon after. Rustenberg and Schoongezicht were at their peak around 1812, with beautiful homesteads and flourishing vineyards. But by mid-century, recession coupled with disease in the vines, brought bankruptcy and dispossession.

Schoongezicht was rescued in 1892 by John X Merriman (who was to become Prime Minister of the Cape), and Rustenberg by his brother-in-law Sir Jacob Barry. Together they revitalised the farms. Fruit was sent to Covent Garden; new vines were grafted onto disease-resistant American rootstock; wines were exported to England and the Continent – and even found in Siberia.

In 1941 Peter and Pamela Barlow bought Rustenberg, later acquiring Schoongezicht and reuniting the properties. Their son Simon took over the running of the farm in 1987. The Barlows have been at Rustenberg for over 60 years: the longest period any one family has owned the farm.