The newly released Kanonkop Paul Sauer 2022 is a wine defined by a late, cool vintage, resulting in a stately elegance and a unique blend featuring the highest proportion of Cabernet Franc in the iconic wine’s history.
A profoundly wet and cold winter in 2021, followed by a slow growing season, pushed the harvest on the Stellenbosch estate 10 to 14 days later than usual. This led to a wine that complements its usual regal power with a distinct refinement.
The most notable feature of the 2022 vintage is its composition. Breaking from its traditional blend of roughly 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% each of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the 2022 rendition comprises 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Cabernet Franc, and 17% Merlot.
According to head-winemaker Francois van Zyl, the decision was dictated by the grapes themselves. “When it came to selecting the portions for the Paul Sauer blend, the three varieties spoke for themselves, with the elegance and perfume of the Cabernet Franc demanding a bigger space in the room.”
The vintage was marked by challenging weather, including a late but even bud-break and a cool, windy flowering period. The cool season, along with 10mm of rain in mid-March, allowed for extended ripening and minimal irrigation, creating what Van Zyl describes as an “almost a dryland-farmed season” where the grapes could express a complete sense of terroir.
In the cellar, winemaking adhered to the traditional principles established with the first Paul Sauer in 1981. After hand-picking and computerised sorting, the grapes were fermented for five days in open concrete fermenters, with the cap punched down every two hours for gentle extraction. The three varietals were blended after malolactic fermentation and then aged for 24 months in new 225-litre French oak barrels.
Van Zyl describes the finished wine as “seamlessly elegant and truly accessible,” even in its youth. “The most important contribution of terroir lies in the structure of the final wine,” he says. “And here Paul Sauer 2022 shows a genteel purity, reverberating with a brisk freshness driving an array of classical red wine flavours.”
The wine has a deep ruby colour with a perfumed nose of cherries, cassis, cedar, and tea leaves. The palate delivers flavours of cassis, cranberries, and savoury plum with fine-grained tannins and a long, persistent finish. It is expected to mature gracefully for 20 to 25 years if stored correctly.
