Malu Lambert jumped at the chance to “talk dirt” with Mike Ratcliffe and get to better understand his vision for Vilafonté and how it is looking to both celebrate South Africa’s history and traditions whilst raising its international wine profile to another level.
“Turning 21 is a coming of age,” says Vilafonté’s Mike Ratcliffe, on the decision to do its first Series C vertical. “It was nothing more complicated than that,” he says laughing.“We feel we have come of age and now want to secure Vilafonté’s future as one of South Africa’s historic wine brands.”
The Vilafonté winemaking team…
The landmark tasting was also an opportunity for the entire Vilafonté team to come together, including Ratcliffe, head winemaker Chris De Vries and Arlene Mains, head winemaker for the Seriously Old Dirt brand who was able to show her first ‘solo’ vintage from 2021. Winegrower Edward Pietersen, who has had his hands in the ancient vilafontés soil of the Paarl estate for 17-years, as well assteadfast and innovative, general manager Sophia Hawkins.
The event also brought many of South Africa’s top wine producers together to share the occasion together. Among them Rudiger Gretschel (Reyneke), Johann Krige and Abrie Beeslaar (Kanonkop), Matthew Day (Klein Constantia), Hannes Myburgh, Wim Truter and Eddie Turner (Meerlust), and Danie Steytler Jnr. (Kaapzicht).
Inviting what is ostensibly the competition is a move practically unheard of at such events, but also speaks of Ratcliffe’s confidence in his wines.
Introducing Series C 2021
The much anticipated Vilafonté Series C is being released to the UK trade through Fells its UK distributor
So what is the verdict on Series C 2021 that is set to be released into the trade? You can sum it up in two words: It’s singing. The cooler vintage avoided the usual February and March heatwaves. “This meant that water resources were less strained and bunches saw little to no sunburn,” explains De Vries.
De Vries admits that since his first vintage of Vilafontéin 2016, the 2021 is his favourite of the Series C. He explains why: “During harvest berries were supple-skinned, bursting with flavour, vibrant freshness and a bold tannin structure.”
These nascent findings have translated into the final product. Vintage dependent, the 2021 composition entails Cabernet Sauvignon (57%), Merlot (26%), Malbec (10 %) and Cabernet Franc (7%). Styled as ‘Sumptuous & Measured’, the house’s luxurious depth and opulent fruit is here, woven through with remarkable freshness, pulling velvety tannins along its firm structure to a poised, dry finish.
Vilafonté: the story
Vilafonté was established in 1997 as a collaboration between California and South Africa with the vision of producing wines that could hold their own against the best in the world.
The Vilafonté founding partners were Americans Dr Zelma Long and Dr Phil Freese and Mike Ratcliffe. Ratcliffe is now buying out Dr Long and Dr Freese over a three year transition period which started in 2022
The three founding partners were Americans Dr Zelma Long and Dr Phil Freese, then respectively the chief winemaker for Robert Mondavi and vice president of wine growing for Opus One. And South Africa’s Mike Ratcliffe, who joined as co-owner in 2001, while also heading his family’s generational Stellenbosch farm, Warwick.
The maiden vintage of Vilafonté was 2003 with both Series C and Series M being released. Second-label Seriously Old Dirt debuted in 2012. Advantageously both De Vries and Mains have also worked vintages at Opus One in 2015, 2016 & 2017, 2018 respectively.
Warwick was sold to San Francisco investment firm, Eileses Capital in 2018, allowing Ratcliffe to focus full-time on Vilafonté. In 2022 it was announced that Ratcliffe was buying out Dr Long and Dr Freese over a three-year transition process given their desire to step into retirement.
There have been many accolades over the last 26 years, among them the remarkable achievement of being named IWSC’s Outstanding Producer of 2021 . The first South African wine to receive the award.
In 2023 Vilafonté also clinched both first andsecond place in the Robert Parker Wine Advocate report out of 482 South African wines.
Ratcliffe is quick to stress how important the expertise of Dr Zelma Long and Dr Phil Freese has been in Vilafonté’s success. The secret, he says, is their unwavering focus.
“We recognised from the beginning that a common denominator of the greatest wines in the world was just that, they were wines. A product of a site,” he adds. “We adopted a clear focus on producing Bordeaux-blends, but with their own definition:great blended red wines produced from varieties made famous by Bordeaux, but now interpreted in our ancient African terroir.”
Complemented he says by a “complex ecosystem of projects, experiments and trials focused on countless small nuances, all of which add up to the finished product.”
The next 100-years
Mike Ratcliffe has ambitious, long term plans for Vilafonté and how the brand can grow in the coming decades
“Greatness in wine is a long-term proposition,” says Mike Ratcliffe on what he sees as a five-part, 100-year plan. “The time has arrived when the drive for short-term success gravitates towards a more reflective and philosophical pursuit of meaning. The developing 100-year Vilafonté plan is my dream to build a sufficiently robust proposition that our wine growing endeavour may transcend succession.”
He’s broken his plan down into five pillars:
- Focusing the portfolio
- Development and inclusion of its entire team
- Introducing a cutting-edge irrigation system to help fight climate change.
- The propagation of its Vilafonté native yeast.
- And succession…
The show of force of the wines we were able to taste at the 21-year benchmark tasting–the 2003 Series C easily made the case for longevity of the blend – makes Ratcliffe’s century-long goal a tangible reality.
We know South African wine has the ability to age, just look at the mid-century wines from Meerlust, Lanzerac, Alto Rouge and Zonnebloem. Or in more contemporary history the ageability of Kanonkop, Thelema, Le Riche, Sadie and the like.
“We’re very happy to be part of a group of wineries that are doing some amazing stuff,” says Ratcliffe on the health of South Africa’s fine wine scene. “Though there’s an inherent weakness, many are making great wines, but are not backing it up with volume. It’s all very well selling out in three days of release, but that doesn’t do much for the global perception.Reputation is not actually built in Cape Town, but rather in places like Tokyo, Stockholm and San Francisco. Many of the greatest South African wines don’t exist on the global fine wine stage, simply because they don’t have the volume.”
He adds: “We’re inundated with quality, the weakness is supply.”
This he admits is partially perpetuated by the fact that a lot of great wines are made from small pockets of grapes. “Which of course is also a strength. It’s the Burgundy model versus the Bordeaux model. Burgundy celebrates its tiny little patchworks and the prices go stratospheric.
Being confident
The 2023 Vilafonté vineyard team
“What needs to change is the same word I have used for decades, confidence. Instead of just making two barrels, why not make a few more?”
There are, he says, examples of higher volume quality brands, think of the raging success of both the Chocolate Block and Meerlust Rubicon.
“Bringing this conversation to life in our business,” he adds. “We’re doing good volumes with 370 000 bottles.”
As part of the future-fit plan, focusing the portfolio will see a single flagship wine being developed, simply named ‘Vilafonté’, which the team has dubbed ‘project unicorn’. The propagation of Vilafonté’s native yeast is billed to play a big role in this.
In order to augment supply Vilafonté will be working with other pockets of prized vineyards, an example is a long term contract that has been put in place with a premium grower in the Swartland.
Water issues
The next point Ratcliffe underscores is the exponential crisis of water scarcity. “We’re going to have a lot less water in the future.”
To mitigate this Vilafonté has developed new technology, designed by Dr Phil Freese.
Ratcliffe explains: “We no longer irrigate the soil, we irrigate the roots. A leaf needs no water, a trunk needs no water, the top 50 centimetres of the soil needs no water. All our irrigation is subsurface, direct to root. We’ve reduced our water usage by approximately 70% since using it and we no longer have to worry about weeds to boot.
“It’s like a blood transfusion to the vine, it takes about 40 minutes before we see the leaves literally plumping up in front of our eyes.”
Mike Ratcliffe hopes Vilafonté and the steps it is taking in its vineyards can help the overall South African wine industry and its pursuit to make ever more premium wines
In the past, with standard systems, irrigation would take approximately six hours on the Vilafonté property, wasting time, money – and water. Not to mention, in a country like South Africa that regularly experiences power cuts, reliably being able to supplement your crop in times of crisis.
Ratcliffe says this new technology will be open-sourced to the industry at large. “We do not hold our intellectual property confidential, we share liberally because we believe that success lies in the implementation, and not simply in the knowledge.”
The final part of Ratcliffe’s master plan is succession. “Succession has two definitions, familial succession, the other is brand continuity,” he says. “Right now I am focused on the brand. If my personal family is interested in getting involved, then that is their choice. Or, like Zelma and Phil have done, trusted me to take Vilafonté to the next level. And, I’m not going anywhere.”
- Vilafonté is a commercial partner to The Buyer.
- Vilafonté is distributed in the UK through Fells. Series C 2021 has been shipped to the UK and is going to be released to the trade early in 2024.
