Strauss & co - 8 June 2019 (Wine)

16 Meerlust Rubicon 1984 750ml 6 (1 x 6) R12 000 – 14 000 PROVENANCE Private Client ITEM NOTES Meerlust Estate has been the pride of the Myburgh family since 1756. In 1980, after several years of experimentation and visits to Bordeaux, the new blend was born and it was unlike anything South Africa had seen before. The introduction was a Rubicon moment for South African fine wine market. The 1984 is one of the finest and increasingly rare vintages of South Africa’s most famous red wine. ‘In an increasingly crowded field of local excellence, this remains among the top South African claret blends; consistently elegant, medium-bodied, carefully oaked, restrained but perfumed, with some classic, minerally, claret undertones. A ripe vegetal/herbal nuance is often apparent, with dried tea leaf associations. A medium-length finish, in a routinely medium-strength wine. The ‘84, undoubtedly one of the best vintages, was, for well-known French shipper Paul Bouchard, “the finest French claret outside France”. Meerlust Rubicons are not big, plummy over-oaked or over-done NewWorld or Californian creations. The aim has been not so much to attack the nostrils, with an upfront bouquet of raw cedary oak, but to go for elegant complexity on the palate.’ Platter’s SA Wine Guide 1990, 5 stars