Meerlust Rubicon Vertical with Hannes Myburgh

Eighth generation Meerlust owner Hannes Myburgh presented a flight back to the early 80s of there flagship wine.
The Meerlust estate has been with the Myburgh family since 1756. Rubicon is the estate’s flagship wine. Rubicon’s inception came about after a holiday in Bordeaux where Hannes’ father Nico discovered that the terroir in this region of France was similar to that of the Eerste River Valley in Stellenbosch. At this time, the wines of the Western Cape were predominantly single varietal while Bordeaux’s reputation was based on a blend. Nico returned to Meerlust filled with inspiration and the desire to create a blend of his own that would rival those of the French. In 1980, after several years of experimentation with the help of winemaker Giorgio Dalla Cia, he revealed a style of wine never before seen in South Africa. As Hannes Myburgh said at that point they crossed the Rubicon and iacta alea est!

We found the wines very much classic Bordeaux and had we had them blind we would be pointing towards that. The 2000s had very little vintage variation on the nose but differences on the palate.

We left truly impressed and definitely did not expect this level of quality and elegance.

• 2011 Meerlust Red 88 Points

  South Africa, Coastal Region, Stellenbosch

  Quite an interesting wine, launched only for the UK and effectively the 2nd wine to the Flagship Rubicon. In 2011 no Rubicon will be made so this definitely benefits from all the extra "attention". Bright and glossy in colour, the nose is quite evolved, open very classic Bordeaux in away. On the palate it is clearly young, firm, grippy tannin but starting to round off. Give it a year or two and this will drink very nicely. Good value. 88 for now maybe gets to 90 as it ages.

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Our favorite decade of the tasting and do have to say that we were really impressed with the quality here.

• 2009 Meerlust Rubicon 92 Points

  South Africa, Coastal Region, Stellenbosch

  From the excellent 2009 vintage. Floral, orange blossom, pepper on the nose. Light cocoa. Ripe, juicy and rich on the palate but also very balanced and easily mistaken blind for a classic Bordeaux. light touch of oak, good fruit across the wine, big but round tannins. Much like 2009 Bordeaux it is good to drink now but definitely has longevity. Very elegant and we will buy some for sure. 92 for now but a lot of future potential here.
  70%CS/20%M/9%CF/1%PV - 14.5% Alc

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• 2008 Meerlust Rubicon 90 Points

  South Africa, Coastal Region, Stellenbosch

  Light pepper, touch floral on the nose. Light nose. Very bodeaux-esque in style. A bit shy and closed at this stage. Not as ripe and juicy as the bigger 2009 and definitely feels like time would do it some good. 89-90
  71%CS/19%M/9%CF/1%PV - 14% Alc

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• 2006 Meerlust Rubicon 91 Points

  South Africa, Coastal Region, Stellenbosch

  from the blockbuster 2006 vintage. Light herby, spicy, white pepper on the forefront. Has the Rubicon classic Bordeaux style. The tannin is evident, grippy but with no rough edges. Definitely needs time, 5yrs+ . Quite a lot of substance and structure here and definitely one for the long run. 91 for now but has a lot of future ahead of it.
  74%CS/8%M/18%CF - 14% Alc

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• 2004 Meerlust Rubicon 91 Points

  South Africa, Coastal Region, Stellenbosch

  Open, expressive and beautiful on the nose. Light peppery, light floral. Solid core of fruit. young and still in its shell. Definitely has a lot of potential. Did split us at the current score though, Andreas 92 / Nicol 90 so 91.
  Interestingly Hannes Myburgh's second favourite of the vertical.
  63%CS/27%M/10%CF - 14% Alc

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• 2003 Meerlust Rubicon 93 Points

  South Africa, Coastal Region, Stellenbosch

  Along with the 1984 this was our joint favourite of the evening. Open on the nose, evolved, spicy, pure and beautiful. Ripe fruit core that carries along the whole of the wine, well round and approachable now but with lots of life ahead. Very Very good. 93 easy
  69%CS/19%M/12%CF - 13.5% Alc

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• 2001 Meerlust Rubicon 91 Points

  South Africa, Coastal Region, Stellenbosch

  Darker in colout than expected from a 2001. Quite shy on the nose a bit restrained to start. From the great 2001 vintage but for us it was a bit lower than the top of the flight like the 2003 (Papies 93). Had a few porty notes at times too, a touch of bolgheri in style we could say vs the rest which are more bordeaux. still pretty god wine.
  Hannes Myburgh's Number 1 of the flight.
  70%CS/15%M/15%CF - 13.5% Alc

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Not as impressive decade as the 2000s

• 1995 Meerlust Rubicon 90 Points

  South Africa, Coastal Region, Stellenbosch

  This wine split us quite a bit with Andreas finding it shy while nicole like the subtle expression of it. Classic bordeaux in style, but at times felt to have dry rough edges (andreas) and the common flaw we found to it is that it was a bit short on the finish vs what we expected. 89 vs 91 > 90 overall
  68%CS/20%M/12%CF - 12.8% Alc

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• 1994 Meerlust Rubicon 90 Points

  South Africa, Coastal Region, Stellenbosch

  A touch dusty on the nose, a few off putting notes too, but surprisingly good on the palate. Intense and shows signs of further longevity. Round to start but with good firm grippy tannin, good fruit, youthfull and vibrant. Nice balance too. Shame on that nose.. 90 but maybe its a bottle issue with the aroma, without that it could easily be 92+
  70%CS/20%M/10%CF - 12.5% Alc

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• 1993 Meerlust Rubicon 91 Points

  South Africa, Coastal Region, Stellenbosch

  Intense on the nose, ex[ressive, touch of earthy feel but very much on the fruit. Restrained at times, soft and felt a touch thin on the mid palate. Still very nice wine, classic bordeaux style, with nice bright fruit notes. We liked it quite a bit although not as good as the 84,09 and 03. 91
  70%CS/20%M/10%CF - 13% Alc

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As with all old hot climate bottles its never a good wine but a good bottle so not sure if what we had in the 89 was characteristic. the 84 was superb though

• 1989 Meerlust Rubicon 88 Points

  South Africa, Coastal Region, Stellenbosch

  Much lighter in colour than the rest, brownish tint on the rim. If a characteristic bottle of this wine then it is starting to fade away, light and drying out and with quite a few sharp edges. Felt much older than an 89 in our view and one should be approaching these sooner than later. 88
  60%CS/25%M/15%CF - 12.5% Alc

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• 1984 Meerlust Rubicon 93 Points

  South Africa, Coastal Region, Stellenbosch

  This wine is a testament to what a great wine the Rubicon really is. Along with the 2003 (Papies 93) was our favorite. A lovely complex and expressive nose, light herbal notes, light pepper. Balanced wine, elegant and definitely felt younger than an 84 especially vs the poor showing of the 89 before (papies 88). Intense, good acidity and firm. Rich core of fruit. Pure and elegant. such a joy. rated it 93 ont he evening but maybe we shoudl have given it 94

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