Raats Family Wines

Today we went to Raats Winery for a wine tasting. Chris the sales and marketing manager showed us around the winery, explaining the soil types and how it affects the taste of the wine. He also explained the technique they use to grow their grapes. It was all very interesting and I appreciated knowing more about how ones land/soil can affect the wine.

We then went to the tasting room to try the wine. On trying the first wine, I realised I had yet again learnt more about how to pick out the characteristics of the wine, just from understanding the different types of soil and how they influence the taste of the wine.

We tried three wines. The first was the Raats Original Chenin Blanc 2011 (R80). It had a great smell, was very fruity, crisp, had nice body, and there was minerality in the wine. This was very easy drinking and I would love to get myself a bottle or two. We were told that this wine goes nicely with sushi.

Next we tried the Raats Family Chenin Blanc 2009 (R150). This was sweet on the nose, had a beautiful smell, was lightly wooded, nicely balanced, and lovely to drink. This wine goes well with spicy asian food. It has aging potential of 5-7 years.

The Raats Cabernet Franc 2009 (R300) has slightly spicy notes on the nose. This wine was beautifully balanced and had fantastic flavour. It was a little dry yet pleasant on the palate. I found that even though it was dry, the moisture in your mouth immediately came back. Aging potential is 12-15 years. I absolutely loved this wine.

The wine tasting experience here was really great, Chris knew so much about the winery, the wine and the process of the wine making here. It really was fantastic to have so much information provided in a wine tasting. If you get the chance to do a tasting here then I definitely would recommend it.