Cabernet Sauvignon Stellenbosch, Boekenhoutskloof 2022

The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Stellenbosch is 100% destemmed and aged for 22 months in 60% new French oak. It has well-defined, more Bordeaux-like bouquet, with touches of pencil lead infusing the black fuit. It unfurls nicely in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, a little oaky at the moment though that will be subsumed with time. Again, it’s quite Left Bank in style, with impressive tension and a slightly chalked-texture finish. As I usual I prefer this to the Franschhoek blend.

This is plush and delicious, showing notes of dark plums, dark chocolate, graphite, violets and some mocha. It’s full-bodied, polished and full of flavor, with ripe and fine-grained tannins. Classy, fresh and long finish. Drink or hold.

Gottfried Mocke's Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon has more grip, muscle and minerality than the Franschhoek bottling, and comes from a Lower Helderberg site close to the Polkadraai Hills. Inky and well-structured, it has layers of blueberry and blackberry, a waft of graphite and dried herbs and deftly integrated 60% new oak. 2026-35