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Capensis

Finding Capensis was not easy. It took my driver several attempts to locate the correct entrance, though it was worth persevering. We were rewarded with spectacular panoramas across the Franschhoek Valley, the Helderberg Mountains and over towards Cape Town. Capensis is part of the Jackson family’s portfolio (Kendall-Jackson, Verité, Château Lassegue and so forth.) The serendipitous chain of events that led Barbara Banke to invest in the Cape is fascinating. It was certainly a bold move for a big-name Californian producer to branch out into this region at that time. The 51-hectare vineyard was once part of a huge estate that was divided many years ago, the other part forming what is now Bartinney. In my own ignorance, I had assumed that it was a single vineyard project. On the contrary, Capensis is a brand that sources fruit from around the Cape to augment their own vines. “We buy from about seven different vineyards,” head winemaker Graham Weerts tells me. The South African-born winemaker worked for many years for the Jacksons in California before returning to his homeland. “The 2018 comes from five vineyards with around 60% from Stellenbosch. I’m not bound to the single vineyard concept. The only goal is to produce something that is world class vintage-to-vintage, but it does not have to be stylistically consistent. I am still looking for a singular vineyard.” Upon buying the estate, much of the virused Cabernet Sauvignon vines were pulled up and re-planted with Chardonnay in 2018. The first fruit from those vines form the 2022 vintage. So in this sense, we await to see what kind of fruit they will bestow.” I was shown the partially terraced vineyards where they are pruning double-Guyot, following the current trend in the Cape. Weerts explains that at college they were taught that farm hands were not skilled enough to prune in that manner, which seems presumptuous and incorrect. Current production volumes are 700 to 800 cases of Capensis and 1,400 cases for the Silene.

From Growing Up ‘n Getting Wiser: South Africa in 2022 (Sep 2022) by Neal Martin

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2020 Silene

Release Price: $40

Color: White

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2018 Capensis

Release Price: $80

Color: White

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2018 Fijnbosch

Release Price: $125

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Capensis

2020 Silene

2018 Capensis

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