Meerlust Rubicon
£40.00
£53.33 per litre · incl. 20% VAT
In Stock — 22 bottles available
95Natalie MacLean
92Wine Spectator
91James Suckling
South Africa's most celebrated Bordeaux-style blend, from an estate that's been making wine since 1693. Meerlust Rubicon delivers dark plum, cedar, violets, and a savoury spice that lingers long after the last sip. Structured enough to cellar for years, polished enough to open tonight. This is Stellenbosch at its most refined.
Not for sale to persons under 18. Adult signature required on delivery.
Our Verdict
We tasted the Rubicon alongside a dozen other premium Stellenbosch reds, and it was the bottle we kept returning to. There's a precision here, a seamless integration of fruit, oak, and tannin, that separates it from wines at twice the price. Scored 95 by Natalie MacLean and 92 by Wine Spectator, it more than earns its place among South Africa's elite. This is the wine we recommend when someone asks us for one bottle that captures what Stellenbosch does best. Whether you're building a collection or treating someone to a serious South African red, Rubicon delivers every time.
Tasting Notes
Deep, almost purple in the glass, a wine that announces itself before you even raise it. The nose is layered and compelling: ripe plum and dark berry fruit wrapped in cedarwood and violet, with a thread of fennel and liquorice that adds real intrigue. On the palate, it's full-bodied and structured, with concentrated dark fruit supported by firm but rounded tannins. That savoury spice carries right through to a long, cedary finish. This is a serious Bordeaux-style blend that rewards patience, every sip reveals something new.
Violet & Dark Plum
Fragrant violets lift ripe plum fruit on the nose, giving the wine an almost perfumed intensity that draws you in.
Cedarwood Spice
Eighteen months in barrel delivers elegant cedar and warm spice notes that frame the fruit without overwhelming it.
Liquorice Depth
A distinctive liquorice thread runs through nose and palate, adding a savoury, almost exotic dimension to the blend.
About This Wine
There are wines you drink, and wines you remember. Rubicon belongs firmly in the second category. Meerlust's flagship Bordeaux-style blend has been South Africa's benchmark since it first appeared in the 1980s, the wine that proved the Cape could stand alongside the world's finest red blends. You've found something special here.
The blend is Cabernet Sauvignon-led, filled out with Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and a touch of Petit Verdot, each parcel fermented separately before spending eighteen months in barrel to knit everything together. The result is layered and complex: ripe dark plum and blackcurrant lifted by violets and fennel, underpinned by cedar, liquorice, and a savoury depth that keeps pulling you back to the glass. The tannins are firm but beautifully rounded, this is a full-bodied wine with real poise.
Meerlust sits just five kilometres from False Bay, and that maritime influence is the secret weapon. Cool ocean breezes temper the Stellenbosch sunshine, giving the fruit intensity without heaviness. The estate draws from four distinct terroirs, granite hilltops, ancient river terraces, rocky quarry slopes, and clay-rich lowlands, each contributing a different dimension to the final blend.
Pour it alongside slow-cooked beef short ribs, roast lamb with rosemary, or a board of mature Cheddar and Comté. It's also a wine that rewards patience, tuck a bottle away and revisit it in five years for something truly memorable. Delivered to your door anywhere in the UK, this is the kind of bottle that makes an occasion, or becomes the perfect gift for someone who appreciates the finer things.
Food Pairing
This is a wine built for the Sunday table. Slow-cooked beef short ribs are the dream match, the wine's structure and savoury depth mirror all that rich, falling-apart meat. Equally brilliant alongside a rosemary-studded roast leg of lamb or a venison pie on a cold evening. For something simpler, try it with sautéed wild mushrooms on sourdough toast, or a generous wedge of mature Comté.
- —Slow-cooked beef short ribs
- —Roast leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic
- —Venison and red wine pie
- —Sautéed wild mushrooms on sourdough
- —Mature Comté or aged Cheddar
How to Serve
Temperature
Cool room temperature. If stored in a cool room, pour straight away; from a warm kitchen, give it ten minutes in the fridge.
Decanting
Decant for at least an hour, ideally ninety minutes. The wine is still youthful and tightly wound, air lets the violet aromatics bloom and softens the firm tannin structure into something more generous and expressive.
Glass
A large-bowled Bordeaux glass is essential here, the complex, layered nose needs room to open fully.
Cellaring
Store on its side at 12-14°C with steady humidity. This blend has the structure and concentration to reward a decade or more of patience.
Behind the Wine
Meerlust sits just fifteen kilometres south of Stellenbosch, close enough to False Bay that cool maritime breezes temper the Cape's summer heat. In drought-affected seasons, not uncommon in this part of the Western Cape, vines produce smaller berries with concentrated flavour and exceptional colour. Cooler-than-usual nights during ripening lock in aromatic complexity, while the dry conditions keep disease pressure low. The result is a Rubicon with deep, saturated fruit, pronounced spice, and a structural backbone built to age.
Ageing Potential
Approachable now thanks to its ripe, generous fruit, but this has genuine cellaring pedigree, expect ten to twenty years of evolution in good conditions. Over time, the primary fruit will give way to leather, tobacco, and earthy complexity. If you can resist opening it straight away, the rewards are considerable.
The Land
Rubicon draws from four distinct terroirs across the Meerlust estate. Die Kop, a warm north-facing granite slope, provides bold structure. The River Terraces, sandy soils threaded with river stones, deliver delicate, fruit-forward parcels shaped by dramatic day-to-night temperature swings. The Quarry's rocky greywacke and shale yields wines of precision and red-fruited length. And the Lowlands, an ancient estuary marked by deep clay, contributes silky texture and dark fruit weight. It's this mosaic that gives Rubicon its layered complexity.
The Winemaking
Every parcel of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot is fermented separately, a deliberate approach that lets each variety express itself fully before the blending conversation begins. Malolactic fermentation takes place in a mix of 300-litre barrels and larger foudré, a combination that builds complexity without drowning the fruit in oak. After eight months in barrel the components are blended, then given a further ten months together to marry and harmonise. It's patient, classical winemaking, and you taste that patience in the seamless, layered finish.
About the Producer
Meerlust
Meerlust, Dutch for 'pleasure of the sea', has been making wine since 1693, and the Myburgh family have held the estate since 1756. It was Nico Myburgh's visit to Bordeaux in 1967 that changed everything. He recognised the climatic kinship between the Eerste River Valley and the great estates of the Left Bank, and set about planting Cabernet Franc, a first for Stellenbosch. The Rubicon, first released in 1984, became South Africa's pioneering Bordeaux-style blend and remains the estate's flagship, accounting for roughly half of total production. Now in the hands of eighth-generation owner Hannes Myburgh, with winemaker Wim Truter at the helm since 2020, Meerlust continues to balance heritage with quiet evolution. The estate is a declared national monument, a fitting status for a property that helped shape the modern Cape wine landscape.