Restless River, Cabernet Sauvignon, Walker Bay 2021 - 75cl
Cabernet Sauvignon in the Hemel-en-Aarde is close to heresy. This is Pinot and Chardonnay country, a cool sliver of Walker Bay five kilometres from the Atlantic, and almost nobody plants Bordeaux varieties here. Craig and Anne Wessels do, from two tiny blocks on their Klein Hemel farm that went into granite soils back in 1998, barely 2.3 hectares between them, and the result is one of the most singular red wines in the Cape.
Cool-climate Cabernet is a different animal from the ripe, sunny sort, and the 2021 shows you why people chase it. The nose is all cassis and blackcurrant, shot through with graphite, crushed stone and a distinct saline, iodine tang that could only come from a vineyard this close to the sea. Give it time and tobacco emerges, then sandalwood and a note of mint chocolate. On the palate it is medium to full and properly savoury, more about minerality than sheer fruit, with firm, lightly chalky tannin and a long, classy finish. The acidity is fresh in the way only a cool site delivers.
This is a serious, ageworthy wine. Tim Atkin and Greg Sherwood MW both rate the recent Restless River Cabernets in the mid-nineties, and it is made in tiny quantities, so it is as much a collector's bottle as a dinner one. It is approachable now with a good decant, but the real reward is patience: it should drink well from now through to 2040 and beyond.
If you own Left Bank claret and want to see what the Cape does with the same grape in a maritime climate, pour them side by side. This will hold its own.
How to Serve
Serve at 17-18C. Decant a good hour ahead while it is young; a Bordeaux glass gives the aromatics room to build.
Where to Drink It
- Noble Rot, Soho - the kind of list that will pour a cult Cape Cabernet without blinking.
- Brat, Shoreditch - wood-fired chops and a serious red make a fine match.
- Scott's, Mayfair - for when this bottle deserves a proper occasion.
Food Pairings
Rare-grilled ribeye, or a herb-crusted rack of lamb; the graphite edge loves a chargrill.
