2020 Mvemve Raats, MR de Compostella, Stellenbosch, South Africa

The 2020 De Compostella is composed of 30% Cabernet Franc, 28% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Malbec, 16% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot. Beginning with a focused, juicy and complex nose of dark red fruits, the wine has an impeccable balance between oak, fruit and earthy floral tones. Full-bodied and with succulent acidity, the palette offers a firm frame of fine-grained tannins, while the fruit profile makes way for elegant earth and notes of crème de cassis to sway with subtle flavours of sage and spiced plum. The red blend continues to somersault and reveal its complexities over the long-lingering and ever-evolving finish. Be patient with this exceptional wine. It's gorgeous now but will have no problem ageing for two decades, possibly beyond. Your patience will be rewarded. Bravo!Drink 2025 - 2040Anthony Mueller, Wine Advocate (July 2023)

Bright garnet. Much mellower on the palate than the Raats Jasper 2020 tasted alongside. Really nicely balanced for current drinking. Great vivacity and a fully integrated blend with a Cabernet signature and perfume and no excess sweetness of oak. Long. Impressive. I see that in the past I have found young examples of this wine pretty embryonic but this 2020 is already pretty gorgeous. Just a shame about the bottle weight!Drink 2023 - 2033jancis_robinson_mw MW, JancisRobinson.com (January 2023)

The 2020 MR de Compostella is a blend of 30% Cabernet Franc, 28% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Malbec, 16% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot matured in 1st, 2nd and 3rd fill barrels for 24 months. It has a stunning nose with effortlessly pure black cherry, boysenberry and raspberry fruit, seamlessly interlaced with the oak. The palate is medium-bodied with an intense opening, layers of red fruit, spicebox, cracked black pepper and graphite. There is a huge structure to this Compostella but with immense salinity and finesse on the finish. It will need three to four years in bottle, but it is a tremendous wine (again).Drink 2026 - 2050Neil Martin, Vinous.com.com (September 2022)

Never made with exactly the same blend in any two vintages, the 2020 is a classic Cape Bordeaux assemblage of 30% Cabernet Franc, 28% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Malbec, 16% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot with a total production of only 1,000 x 6.The wine displays a real intensity in the glass with a ruby red rim and a red / black plum heart. The aromatics are vibrant and fabulously perfumed, bursting from the glass with expressive notes of red and black berry fruits, black currant, raspberry, red and black cherry, before notes of earthy blueberry emerge with suggestions of pressed violets, lavender, sweet sandalwood, star anise and graphite spice.On the palate, the vintage’s regal elegance emerges with exhilarating acids framing the plush opulent red and back berry fruits, saline cassis, tart red cherry and a blueberry confectionary generosity. Tasting the wine with Bruwer Raats, inevitable comparisons were made to the iconic 2017 MR, with both wines sharing a beautifully bright acid freshness and a weightless concentration of pure berry fruits with only the slightest suggestion of vanilla oak spice. This really is a wine with a mixed palette of colours, flavours and fruits and the most seamlessly elegant, finessed velvety tannins.Following on from the 2018 blockbuster, with no 2019 MR produced, this 2020 is a bold, enchanting, characterful wine full of precision that trumpets the return of this incredible benchmark Cape classic. A breathtaking wine on so many levels. Drink 2024 - 2045 Greg Sherwood MW