Circumstance, Cabernet Sauvignon has ample complexity on the nose with notes of black fruit and pencil shavings, flavours of ripe blackcurrant and spice.  A rich, succulent wine with smooth, fine tannins. The great concentration and fine tannins will ensure that it will only become more complex with age.

Try with red meats cooked on the braai (barbeque) or with duck breast with a bit of crispy skin on the side.

About the Region and Producer

Waterkloof was founded back in 2004 and is a family-owned vineyard using sustainable Organic practices.  The vineyards are perched high up on the windswept Schapenberg growing area, overlooking False Bay and the climate moderating Atlantic Ocean.  Healthy soils, a naturally low yield and a long growing season help provide Cellarmaster Nadia Barnard with balanced grapes that offer a clear sense of place and terroir.  In the winery they are transformed into wines with little intervention resulting in very fine, inimitable and eminently quaffable wines which are often best enjoyed with food.

Visit the Waterkloof Website

Vineyard and Winemaking

The block used for Circumstance Cabernet Sauvignon is on the north-west facing slopes of the Schapenberg, at an altitude of about 270 and 300m and a mere 5 kilometres from the Atlantic Ocean. Strong south-easterly winds help control growth and crop yield. Soils are of decomposed granite origin with fine sandy loam topsoil on a stoney base helping with both drainage and moisture retention.

The viticulturalists at Waterkloof pride themselves in not spraying any chemical herbicides or pesticides in their vineyards.  They produce their own compost and preparations for the health of the soils, which are distributed by draught horses, instead of heavy tractors.  These practices ensure loose soil with more life, where the vines can spread their roots as they please; taking up everything they need from our rich and complex earth. Their regenerative farming helps to produce honest, terroir-driven wines that are truly crafted in the vineyard.

The grapes are harvested according to taste and the winemaker spends a lot of time in the vineyards to see how the flavours develop.  Upon arrival at the winery the grapes were destemmed, hand sorted and poured into open-top wooden fermenters. The fermentation started spontaneously with the wild yeasts present naturally on the fruit.

A combination of soft punch downs and delistages were used during fermentation to ensure a soft and slow colour and tannin extraction.  The wines spent about 30 days on the skins to help integrate the tannins and stabilise the colour. The skins were separated from the juice via gravity flow and gently pressed in a basket press.  The wine went through malolactic fermentation in barrel and was then aged in new (20%), second and third fill (80%) French barrels for 28 months.  The wine is unfined so that the grapes are honestly and purely expressed in the wine.  Only limited, essential quantities of sulphur were added.