Meerlust Rubicon really needs no introduction. It is South Africa’s oldest Bordeaux blend still in production, debuting with the 1980 vintage, and a true Cape classic – with an almost unparalleled track record. Thanks to a decades-long relationship with Meerlust, we are given first access each year – before the rest of the world – to Rubicon, their legendary Bordeaux blend. The gorgeous 2024 vintage is available for members to reserve today.
Order by midday, Thursday 12th November
As Meerlust are such an essential part of South Africa’s fine wine furniture today, it’s easy to forget that five decades ago they were actually trailblazers. Recognising the similarities between his own maritime location and Bordeaux, seventh-generation owner of Meerlust Nico Myburgh envisaged a Stellenbosch interpretation of a Bordeaux blend back in the late 60s. He planted merlot and cabernet franc on the estate, alongside his existing cabernet sauvignon, and the inaugural experimental three-way blend, comprising 70% cabernet sauvignon, 20% merlot and 10% cabernet franc, was made by Nico and winemaker Giorgio Dalla Cia in 1978 (the proportions modelled simply on the average ratio of plantings in Bordeaux at the time).
However, the first commercial release of the blend that was to become Rubicon, built on those same varietal proportions, was not until 1984, with the 1980 vintage, so it feels special today to be offering the vintage that came 40 years after that very first release!
In February I tasted the 2024 Rubicon alongside the 2023 (and the embryonic 2025, still in barrel) and the fruit intensity was striking – it has more immediate, almost plush upfront fruit than the 2023, thanks to the warm vintage, and is not as racy nor tense, but carries the estate’s signature bright freshness. It’s delicious, already, and will be drinking before both the 2023 and the 2025.
The lead up to the 2024 harvest
2023 in the Cape brought a winter of plentiful rainfall, with severe flooding in the September. In fact, Meerlust had cabernet vineyards on their river terrasses under water for a day! This wet winter meant good water reserves in the soil going into the growing season, which enabled the vines to cope well with the very dry, warm conditions that followed.
Cellarmaster Wim Truter notes that because of the ample soil moisture, ‘we could manage stress quite well as there was a nice buffer during those early heatwaves. The blocks next to the river were essentially dry farmed that season and were a larger contributor to the final blend than in the cooler seasons.’
Windy conditions during flowering resulted in a smaller crop than in 2023 which, in addition to the dry season, contributed to great natural concentration. With his characteristic modesty, Wim says that ‘the harvest decisions were more directed towards preserving elegance and balance and, in this warm vintage, you find a wine that has nice volume, but without being cumbersome.’
A wine to collect every vintage
Given our Stellenbosch en primeur this summer, where we offered the 2025 vintage in a world-first campaign, you may already have secured the 2025 Rubicon BUT don’t let the 2024 Rubicon pass you by! It’s a brilliant wine, from Wim’s fourth vintage at the estate, where his precision, focus and steady leadership are consistently delivering wines of finesse and purity. I love his whole suite of 2024s (top tip: the 2024 Estate Chardonnay is in our Christmas Fine Wine Collection!).
There are probably a dozen of South Africa’s fine wines I would recommend the committed Cape wine lover to be buying year in, year out, without fail, if they can. Meerlust Rubicon is unquestionably one of those. It’s the kind of wine you want to have every vintage of in your collection.
I have been lucky enough to taste back to the Rubicons of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s at the property, but a more recent reminder of the incredible ageing potential of this wine came here in London this summer, when a dear friend kindly opened a bottle of the 1994 for a bunch of South-African wine nuts. It was in such a beautiful place – refreshing and elegant, so expressive and perfectly proportioned. It made me wish I had a case of 1994 of my own. I’ll just have to make do with drinking the 2024 in 30 years’ time instead, I guess…
