Raats Family Wines, Stellenbosch (South Africa) Cabernet Franc 2015

 I’ve never tasted a vintage of this wine that didn’t leave me impressed, but I’ve also never tasted one as impressive as this 2015 (a great vintage for Bordeaux varieties from Stellenbosch, though not necessarily for leaner-style wines from cooler appellations).  Bruwer Raats is one of the country’s most accomplished and insightful winemakers, and tasting with him was such a pleasure that I’ve actually nicked a point off my score for this wine just to adjust for any excessive enthusiasm that could result from my esteem for him.  With that said, I also elected to buy a bottle of this in Cape Town to lug back to Washington, D.C. with me, and if you reflect on the massive disincentive to do this as the cost of waiting in the baggage claim area of an airport after 34 hours in transit…you’ll know just how highly I regard the wine.  One of the world’s undeniably great renditions of Cabernet Franc, this shows serious concentration but not the slightest heaviness, with wonderful red fruit tones but black fruit nuances as well.  With excellent acidity (especially for the vintage) and lots of fine-grained tannin, this shows impeccable balance and great precision in every important dimension.  In retrospect, I wish I’d bought more of it, and intend to do exactly that.  Fantastic wine.