I sat with Mick Craven last week, the first time since we hosted the Stellenbosch winemaker in our class space earlier this year. He walked me through his '24s which are, in a word, irresistible.

A vintage affected by severe winds – which can famously rip up the coasts of South Africa – it yielded tiny clusters. This intense skin-to-juice ratio has amplified everything this vintage, especially in his Cinsault. This is a wine I’ve loved for many vintages (even putting it in our wine club in 2023) and can confidently say this bottling is the most delicious yet:

2024 Craven Cinsaut, Stellenbosch, South Africa $28

Easily one of the most special sites for Cinsault, from anywhere.

Pictured below, it’s a mere 3 miles from the ocean in the acclaimed, organic Rustenhof farm vineyard – a site pined for by quality growers. Mick farms the oldest block, planted in 1968 on a mix of decomposed granite and sand. It yields potent, coastal fruit that you taste every inch of in his wine.

Mick wants to bottle the coastal energy here so he makes it simply. It's humming with fresh fruit and exotic spice; but, there's no whole cluster, no oak here (and notably, '24 marks the first vintage that he's working exclusively with cement, phasing out any use of wood).

The fruit is very intentionally destemmed, with whole berries directly pressed. As Mick explained, Cinsault in its truest form (i.e. his beautifully old vines) has a naturally fresh, spicy, almost carbonic character to it; potassium-rich stems could strip the wine of its verve.

The result is a natural energy and depth that echoes what we know already about old vine Cinsault (Sandlands!) – truly special stuff.

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