Le Riche continues to cement its position as the best proponent of Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon. Stellenbosch is one of only a handful of incredible Cabernet terroirs in the world, and Le Riche is its benchmark. The 2020 vintage was just awarded Best in Show at the Decanter World Wine Awards, continuing a string of impressive releases since 2017.
Founded by Etienne Le Riche – the ‘King of South African Cabernet Sauvignon’, Le Riche’s legacy has evolved to a new level of excellence. While the 2019 was lighter and more chiselled, the 2020 is aromatically profound, offering tobacco, lots of perfume and dense fruit. The palate is plush and juicy with a fresh, taut tannic structure. This is a silky, seamless wine that’s full of power.
The long-ageing Le Riche Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 is produced from three different wards – 65% Helderberg Coastal, 22% Simonsberg, and 13% Helderberg Mountain. The 2020 is vinified and matured in French oak for 24 months (76% new), and the winemaking is precise and confident with masterful oak integration. Blending the wine from the three wards is crucial; the process will take up to three months to ensure they achieve the best possible expression of Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon.
Tasting Notes:
Le Riche Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2020
‘Things come, things go, fashions turn … but, year after year, Stellenbosch quietly gets on with producing some of the Southern Hemisphere’s most assured Cabernet Sauvignon. We had an example among our Platinum winners last year, so it was satisfying to see a Best in Show contender this year, and this graceful and accomplished wine didn’t take long to win its place in the Top 50. It’s dark black-red in the glass, with serenely curranty scents teased to perfect ripeness and lent dimension by oak without any overt woody stamp obtruding on that fruited charm. The wine exhibits a perfect combination of weight, muscle and energy in the mouth: it’s every inch the athlete. At the end of the palate, though, that singing, lyrical fruit returns before tapering off in a finish that leaves the mouth clean and fresh yet hoping for more. Spot on.’ – Decanter World Wine Awards, 97/100
