Thelema, Rabelais 2021
A wine of magnificent intensity, complexity and poise, Rabelais is a selection of the best individual barrels of Bordeaux varieties grown in Thelema’s vineyards.
Indulge in the rich symphony of flavours offered by this exquisite 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Petit Verdot blend. A full-bodied marvel, it opens with a harmonious dance of dark berries, cassis, and plums, layering velvety textures with hints of vanilla and cedar.
The elegant marriage of Cabernet’s structural finesse and Petit Verdot’s opulent depth creates a tapestry of ripe tannins and balanced acidity, culminating in a long, graceful finish that leaves lingering impressions of black cherry and a touch of tobacco.
This blend epitomizes the art of complexity and refinement, inviting you to savour every nuance with each sumptuous sip.
£60.50
Stellenbosch
Cabernet Sauvignon
LightFull Bodied
Description
A family owned and managed wine estate, part of the spectacular Simonsberg Mountain range in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Home to Thelema and Sutherland wines.
Francois Rabelais was a sixteenth – century French writer. His first novel describes an abbey on the banks of the Loire named Thélème where only one rule was observed: “Do what thou wilt!” Thelema is family run and has been making wine since 1988. The finest red wine of the vintage, blended from Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot, honours the man who gave them their name.
TASTING NOTES & WINEMAKER’S COMMENTS
Indulge in the rich symphony of flavours offered by this exquisite Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot blend. A full-bodied marvel, it opens with a harmonious dance of dark berries, cassis, and plums, layering velvety textures with hints of vanilla and cedar. The elegant marriage of Cabernet’s structural finesse and Petit Verdot’s opulent depth creates a tapestry of ripe tannins and balanced acidity, culminating in a long, graceful finish that leaves lingering impressions of black cherry and a touch of tobacco. This blend epitomizes the art of complexity and refinement, inviting you to savour every nuance with each sumptuous sip.
The 2021 vintage is a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Petit Verdot
Pair this captivating Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot blend with a succulent grilled ribeye steak.
VITICULTURAL PRACTICES
Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon – CS 338C & CS 169A / Petit Verdot – Clone PV 219A
Root stock: 101-14 and R99
Soil type: Hutton – decomposed granite
Age of vines: Planted 2002 and 2003
Plant density: 2000 and 2110 vines per hectare respectively
Trellising: Vertical hedge
Pruning: 2-bud spurs every 12cm
Yield: 8.5 t/ha (Cabernet Sauvignon) / 9.3 t/ha (Petit Verdot)
Irrigation: Supplementary drip
Vintage: A warm, dry vintage with a late start, resulted in smaller tonnage but yielding balanced, well-structured wines with lovely intensity.
Picking date: 24 – 26 March 2021
Grape sugar: 24.5°B – 25.2°B
Acidity: 5.28 – 6.17
pH at harvest: 3.5
WINEMAKING PRACTICES
Yeasts: Alchemy4
Fermentation temp: 26 – 27 °C
Method: De-stalked, hand sorted, whole berries pumped into stainless steel fermentation tanks and pumped over twice a day until dry. After fermentation the wine is left on the skins for 12 hours before pressing, once pressed wine is racked to barrel for malolactic fermentation.
Wood Maturation: 18 months in 76% new 225 L French oak barrels
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS
Residual Sugar: 2.0 g/l
pH: 3.43
Total acid: 6.43 g/l
Alcohol: 14.5 %
Additional information
| Alcohol vol | 14% |
|---|---|
| Grape | Cabernet Sauvignon |
| Origin | Stellenbosch |
| Vintage | 2021 |
| Wine Farm |
Pair this captivating Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot blend with a succulent grilled ribeye steak.
5 reviews for Thelema, Rabelais 2021
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98 points | Tim Atkin MW Special South Africa Report 2024
“Rudi Schultz eschewed Merlot in the Rabelais blend in 2021, preferring to use Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Petit Verdot. Sourced from vineyards above 440 metres, it’s a wonderfully intense, polished red with focus, elegance and finesse to spare. Leafy and detailed, it has violet, damson and black cherry notes and the structure to age beautifully. Even better a year on. 2025-38”
Tim Atkin MW Special South Africa Report 2024 –
94 points | Platter’s Wine Guide 2025
“Flag-bearing label exudes class & finesse in 2021. Cab Sav with 10% Petit Verdot offer notable heft but sleekly cloaked in velvet tannins. Concentrated blackcurrant fruit has delicate iodine & tar mineral wafts, sweet spicing from 18 months in new oak. Follows standout 2020 vintage.”
Platter’s Wine Guide 2025 –
97+ points | Greg Sherwood MW Wine Safari Score
“Another tantalisingly seductive 2021 vintage wine meets you in the form of the Rabelais 2021. Now generally regarded as one of the top Cape Bordeaux Blends produced in the Western Cape, this new vintage made from 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Petit Verdot typifies the cool, taut, linear tension and weightless purity of the vintage. But as elegant and sleek as it is, it is not simply a 2017 lookalike, showing an equal or greater fruit concentration, ripe intense resolved tannins that are assertive but incredibly fine grained, and a piecing crystalline freshness. The aromatics burst with black cherry, tart saline cassis, damson plum, sweet rose petals, earthy balsamic and pickled walnut nuances, with subtle earthy bruleed charcoal hints, stewed blueberries and a deliciously solid core of black berry fruits. This is an incredibly impressive, structured, fine wine of note that imbues class, pedigree and sublime balance to the entire Cape Bordeaux Blend category. In my reconning, this is the very best Rabelais produced to date. Drink now and over the next 20+ years.”
Greg Sherwood MW Wine Safari Score –
95 points | Chris Eedes for Winemag.co.za
“The good reputation of the 2021 vintage grows and grows. Thelema in Stellenbosch describes it as “A warm, dry vintage with a late start, resulted in smaller tonnage but yielding balanced, well-structured wines with lovely intensity” and the top-end Rabelais has turned out exceptionally well. A blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Petit Verdot, it was matured for 18 months in 225-litre barrels, 76% new. The nose is enticingly perfumed – red and black berries plus hints of flowers, herbs, vanilla and spice while the palate is medium-bodied but certainly not insubstantial – pure fruit, fresh acidity and fine-grained tannins, dry on the finish (alc: 14.5%). A wine of clarity, poise and elegance.”
Chris Eedes for Winemag.co.za –
96 points | Wineanorak.com
“14% alcohol. This is Thelema’s Flagship red wine made from the best Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot on the estate. It’s juicy and alive with bright red cherry and blackcurrant fruit, showing amazing focus with good acidity. Combining concentration and freshness, this has some notes of mint and chalk, as well as a twist of rosemary and thyme, but with the main focus being the vital, energetic blackcurrant fruit with some red fruit tartness. Very fine, and potentially long lived. There’s no fatness here at all: it’s fully ripe, but there’s no hint of overripeness. Think great Barolo crossed with great Bordeaux.”
Wineanorak.com –