Vilafonté, Seriously Old Dirt, Cabernet Sauvignon, Western Cape, South Africa 2019

Vilafonté is the coming together of great wine experience from California and South Africa. The vision that brought together the three founding Vilafonté partners (Mike Ratcliffe, Zelma Long & Dr Phil Freese) is the culmination of a life-long dream.

Founded in 1997, the 42ha estate on the bench of the Simonsberg Mountains with its unique vilafontes soils, served as the fuse for their vision. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Malbec confirmed its affinity to the ancient soils that has been dated as being somewhere between 750,000 and 1.5 million years old.

Planted at high density, these vines adhere to the exquisite struggle; encouraging smaller vines, lower yields and highly concentrated fruit. Vilafonté wines are exclusively from estate fruit.

Although there is much variation in the climate of the Western Cape, the biggest influence on wine growing in South Africa is the presence of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The cooling maritime influence has created what can be described as a Mediterranean climate. Wet and cold winters paired with long dry summers create an extremely favorable environment for the production of fine wine.

Every hectare of vine on Vilafonté is meticulously farmed and harvested, with an attention to detail and singular focus. This intense scrutiny, carried through the blending process in the cellar results in certain barrels not fully utilized in the individual iconic Series wines of Vilafonte. To utilize this still excellent wine, another label was made called Seriously Old Dirt. It is a wine named after their ancient vilafontes soils where their vines have been growing for almost two decades.