Bordeaux Collection
Meerlust, Rustenberg, Thelema 1998, 1999, 2000
South African Wines
About the SessionThe South African session brings together a selection of the Cape’s most historic and celebrated wines, spanning decades of winemaking heritage. From Kanonkop, Meerlust and Rustenberg to Klein Constantia and Thelema, the collection showcases landmark Cabernet Sauvignon, Bordeaux-style blends and the iconic Vin de Constance, offering collectors a rare opportunity to explore some of South Africa’s most enduring and influential wines across multiple vintages.
LOT 131
Bordeaux Collection
Meerlust, Rustenberg, Thelema 1998, 1999, 2000
About this Item
This lot consists of the following wines
Meerlust Rubicon 2000
Rustenberg Peter Barlow 1999
Thelema Cabernet Sauvignon 1998
A distinguished trio from three of Stellenbosch’s most storied estates, spanning the turn of the millennium. Meerlust’s Rubicon 2000, from the Myburgh family’s historic estate near False Bay, is the wine that launched the Cape’s fine Bordeaux-blend tradition in 1980. Rustenberg’s Peter Barlow 1999 is a single-vineyard, one-hundred-percent Cabernet Sauvignon grown with almost obsessive precision on the Simonsberg farm the Barlow family has owned since 1941. Thelema’s Cabernet Sauvignon 1998 comes from Gyles Webb’s high-altitude Simonsberg vineyards, long a Cape benchmark for the variety. These are three foundational names of modern South African wine, offered together as a piece of Cape history.
Provenance
Single-Owner Private Collection
Critics Ratings
Meerlust Rubicon 2000
"Deep purple ink colour. A spicy tobacco leaf and cigar box bouquet. Firm tannins, youthful palate. The wine is well-balanced and has good ageing potential." - International Wine & Spirit Competition, Best in Class (Silver), 2005
Rustenberg Peter Barlow 1999
"A flagship as handsome as its origin: 100% cab from Simonsberg vineyard-with-a-view. Grapes cultivated with unwavering focus (pruned/cropped several times; rows/bunches individually tagged at start of each vintage; machine and manual bunch/berry selection during three-pass harvest). 99 among Cape's classy best, likely to be long-lived." - Platter's South African Wine Guide 2004, 5 stars
"Incredibly pure, composed and solid at 19 years of age. It offers lovely black fruit, cedar and classic cigar box along with structured tannins and a sense of minerality. One of the best SA reds of the 1990s." - Roland Peens, Wine Cellar, 95/100 (2018)
"Pulls no punches, with a great beam of dark blackberry and currant flavors up front, creamy toast in the middle, and a pure, sleek, polished finish where the fruit comes back for more. Nice touch of mineral too. Really gorgeous South African red. 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink now through 2006." - James Molesworth, Wine Spectator, 92/100 (May 2002)
Thelema Cabernet Sauvignon 1998
"Distinctive and alluring, with mint, smoke, currant, coffee and cocoa powder aromas and flavors. Concentrated and winey, but focused, with a long, subtle finish." - Wine Spectator, 90/100 (Dec 2001)
"Medium ruby. Redcurrant, bitter cherry, tobacco, smoke and mint on the nose. Dense on the palate, with burnished notes of plum, iron, leather, woodsmoke and nutty oak. Finishes with substantial palate-dusting tannins and good length." - Stephen Tanzer, Vinous (Mar 2002)
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