Leeu Passant Cabernet Sauvignon 2020

This cabernet is from the Helderberg, on the mid-slope facing, and about 4kms from, the ocean, a cool, late site, often picked into April with an ideal microclimate and soil depth, planted in 1980. The wine is inspired by the more classic graphite-gravelly styles of cabernet, aged in 500l barrels for the 1st year, the 2nd year in large 5000l vats. The nose offers high intensity aromatics, combining both the fresh, black fruit and herbal components of the variety with the wild garrigue (fynbos) of the Cape in a highly attractive ensemble. Firm, structured, taut and muscular on the palate, with uncommonly fresh acids, while tannins are chiseled, supported by those acids, leading through the long finish. A stellar wine to be revisited after 2025 at least, and I suspect this will age positively, and comfortably, into the late ’30s.Terrific value on top of it all. Tasted September 2022. Score – 95. (John Szabo, MS, winealign.com)