THE JOURNEY

We make a wine under the Waterkloof label, only when one of our vineyard blocks on The Schapenberg offers up something extraordinary. We made our first in 2005 – a Sauvignon Blanc. Finally, seventeen years later our best block of Chenin made the grade and so a second was borne from the outstanding white wine vintage of 2021.

Since taking over as winemaker in 2013, having previously been assistant since 2009, Nadia Langenegger and her team have really begun to get the best out of our red grapes. We believe in evolution rather than revolution and a few modifications were implemented, notably, foot-treading to extract the juice and tannin more gently. Hard work indeed, but also quite fun…well at least the first couple each year are. We have 20 wooden fermenters to get through!

The changes have really paid off, even throughout the challenging drought vintages of 2017-2019, but even more so with the help of the fantastic red wine vintage of 2020. Testament to this improvement was a first Platter’s 5 Star Award for not just one but two of our red wines in 2021 – Circle of Life Red 2019 and The Last of The First Pinotage 2020.

With the long drought having finally broken, tasting the 2020 red wines from barrel we quickly realized that this would be the first vintage to offer up a Waterkloof red and along came Waterkloof Syrah 2020. However, such was the quality of the red wines across various blocks and grapes on Waterkloof, we also trialed a blend from our best parcels of Bordeaux grape varieties (51% Cabernet Franc/25% Merlot/14% Petit Verdot/10% Cabernet Sauvignon).

The result? Our vinous apogee, named after the fiercest wind god and face of Waterkloof – BOREAS.

Offering great enjoyment in its youth, especially once decanted for a couple of hours, BOREAS has a long future ahead and will develop in complexity over the next 10-15+ years.

THE VINEYARD

Size: 5.85 hectares

Ocean Proximity: 5km

Altitude: 240-250m

Exposure: South (Cabernet Franc, Merlot & Petit Verdot) & North (Cabernet Sauvignon)

Windspeed: Hectic

Soil: Decomposed Granite (Cabernet Franc) & Compacted Sandstone (Merlot, Petit Verdot & Cabernet

Sauvignon)

Farming: Organic & Regenerative with no irrigation

Vine Training: Trellised (for support in wind)

Grape Yield: 2tons/hectare

Wine Yield: 17hl/hectare

THE CELLAR

Hand-picked and hand-sorted

Whole bunch (with the exception of Cabernet Sauvignon) wild yeast ferment in old, open-top, French oak foudre.

Foot treading and manual punch-downs

27 months in French oak barriques (10% new) & 9000l old French oak foudre

No additions other than sulphur

13,390 bottles made

THE NUMBERS

ALC: 14%

RS: 2.5

PH: 3.7

TA: 5.2

NADIA LANGENEGGER’S TASTING NOTE

The Cabernet Franc complements the other varieties very well and it brings elegance to the wine. It is a wine that shows a variety of aromatics but I enjoy notes of redcurrant, plums and a slight hint of pencil shavings on the nose. The wine shows freshness, delicacy and good structure. I can see myself enjoying this wine with a warm plate of boeuf bourguignon.