Springfield, Wholeberry Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

Set in the heart of the mountain-ringed Robertson Valley in the Western Cape of South Africa, Springfield Estate is a family-run wine farm owned by ninth-generation descendants of French Huguenots, who came to South Africa from the Loire in 1688 with bundles of vines under their arms.

The Springfield philosophy is to produce wine as naturally as possible. The winemaking process is kept direct and uncomplicated – the wine is left to make itself, as was done centuries ago. This allows for an honest expression of the estate’s terroir – a gift from God, inherited by our ancestors. They believe that a good farmer is an observant one. One can use all sorts of fancy machines to tell us how much water is in the soil, but at the end of the day you need to look at the vine, see if it is under stress, and act accordingly. At Springfield they would rather intervene in the vineyard than in the cellar. Good wine is grown, not made. Springfield wines are made traditionally and according to ancient methods. Most of the wines are fermented using natural wild yeasts found on the grape skins – high-risk winemaking that leads to lost vintages every few years. Their honour is our conscience, and the hundreds of small decisions made every day with this in mind, results in wine that we are proud to call our own.