Cabernet Franc, South Africa

Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc is a grape used in creating Bordeaux wine blends. The grape attains its finest expression and potential when planted in a region with rich limestone soils. Such soils can be found in the southern part of South Africa. Cabernet Franc wine shows a variety of flavours such as raspberry, cassis, tobacco, violets and pepper. The Cabernet Franc grape is globally famous for developing full-flavoured red wine.

Cabernet Franc single varietal wine is currently being produced in South Africa. The wine is voted top among the best wines in the current wines’ market. Raats Family Wines has promoted South African Cabernet Franc and made the wine an international benchmark.

In South African farming, Cabernet Franc is the 14th most planted grape variety. It grows vigorously and clonal selection should be performed carefully. This aids in avoiding green, grassy flavours during its extraction. The plants are extensively grown in the Stellenbosh regions. The area has a terroir-based topography with soils rich in limestone and chalk. Harvesting is done at peak ripeness. The growers use phenolic ripeness testing tools. They are essential to access the optimum ripeness levels before harvesting. The tools are also employed to determine the plant’s tannin maturity.