Meerlust Estate, Rubicon, 2023
Meerlust Estate, Rubicon, 2023
- 75cl
- 14.3%
- Red Still
- Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot
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Optimal drinking window: 2027 - 2045
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Est. delivery in autumn, 2026
Rubicon is one of South Africa's most storied reds — a Bordeaux-inspired blend that Meerlust first released in 1980, long before Cape Bordeaux blends were fashionable. The 2023 vintage comes from one of the Stellenbosch appellation's most consistently impressive estates, farmed by the Myburgh family since 1756.
The Rubicon has always enjoyed a cult following, although the 2023 sets a new high benchmark for the estate. Tim Atkin MW, a life-long fan, is ecstatic about the 2023. See below how this venerable Bordeaux blend matches up to some of the Left Bank's top wines from the same vintage...
Cabernet Sauvignon leads the blend, supported by Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot, all drawn from old vines on the Meerlust farm's distinctive, cool-influenced soils near False Bay. This is the Cape at its most ambitious and composed.
What the critics say:
"The Rubicon 2023 blend shows aromatics of ripe black currants, blue berries, damson plums with a cornucopia of sweet Christmas spices, black tea and melted caramel over fresh cedar and graphite hints. There is an impressive textural presence on the palate – opulent, dense, and fleshy, layered with crème de cassis, black cherry compote, lead pencil spice, and chalky mineral tannins that smother a cool, subtle, beautifully integrated acidity. This is, once again, the complete package – deep, textured and concentrated yet effortlessly balanced, finishing with a picante brûléed brown toast complexity. A class act that is sure to be one of the standout Cape Bordeaux blends of the vintage."
"While some Stellenbosch producers struggled in 2023, Meerlust produced another very impressive Rubicon, even more impressive when you consider the 180,000 bottles produced. Partnering Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc and 7% Petit Verdot, this has plenty of colour, granite-derived freshness and minerality, youthful cassis, basil, damson and dark chocolate flavours and beautifully sculpted tannins. Bravo!"
"46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc and 7% Petit Verdot. Grape varieties and parcels were fermented separately before being pressed to 300-litre French oak barrels for malolactic and eight months' ageing. The wine spent another 10 months in barrel after blending. Beautiful red-plum, sage and brick-dust nose. Refined, ripe but not voluptuous, understated dignity. Very finely knit tannins running parallel with a long graphite-and-loam, mineral-and-earth backbone. Silky finish."
Meerlust's vineyards lie on the Faure plain near the shores of False Bay, where afternoon sea breezes from the Atlantic keep temperatures significantly cooler than the broader Stellenbosch inland average. The soils are a mix of deep, well-drained Hutton and Clovelly forms — red-brown, sandy loams over clay subsoils — which give good water retention without waterlogging the vines. This combination of moderate heat and moisture stress produces grapes with natural freshness and concentration, and it's what gives Rubicon its more restrained, Médoc-reminiscent character compared to warmer-site Cape Cabs.
Stellenbosch is South Africa's most prestigious red wine appellation and home to many of the country's leading estates. It encompasses diverse sub-valleys and microclimates, from the warmer Simonsberg foothills to the cooler, maritime-influenced areas near False Bay where Meerlust sits. Unlike Bordeaux's rigid classification system, Stellenbosch has no formal cru hierarchy, though a handful of estates — Meerlust among them — have long carried reputations that function as one in practice. The appellation permits a wide range of varieties but is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon-led blends and Chenin Blanc.
The 2023 growing season in Stellenbosch was shaped by a relatively cool, dry summer, which gave growers the kind of measured ripening that makes viticulturalists quietly optimistic. Rainfall was well-distributed early in the season, building good vine reserves without encouraging disease pressure, and the harvest came in at a sensible pace rather than a panic. The result was fruit with genuine freshness alongside ripe tannins — the sort of balance that doesn't happen by accident.
Across the board, 2023 produced wines with real definition. Cabernet Sauvignon and the Bordeaux blends that Stellenbosch does so well have come out with firm but finely grained structure and the kind of concentrated dark fruit that rewards patience. Chenin Blanc and Syrah also performed strongly, with Syrah in particular showing the peppery, muscular character the cooler sites here do better than almost anywhere else. Most reds will drink well from now but have the architecture to develop further — we'd give the serious Cabernet-based wines until at least 2028 to 2032 before calling them truly ready.
OUR GROWERS
Meerlust Estate
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