A plush, fruit-forward Cabernet Sauvignon grown in ancient red soils.
“The vineyard tells us what it wants, we don’t force winemaking flavours,” says Waterford cellarmaster Mark le Roux. We’re crumbling clumps of red gold clay between our fingers in their Antigo vineyard, tiny particles of granite and decomposed sandstone catching the sun with a hint of glitter. On a sheltered lower slope of the Helderberg mountain folds above Stellenbosch, it’s a scenic and adventurous drive in a safari vehicle from the cellar, as are most of the Waterford vineyards, scattered in pockets between indigenous trees and mountain fynbos. About 500m across a wooded kloof he points out the crest of the slightly higher vineyard where the grapes for their Estate Cabernet Sauvignon grow. It’s more exposed to the ocean breezes there (with a view over False Bay) and the soils are completely different, he says, stony, gravelly.
A new wine from a young vineyard
The story of the creation of this new wine, now in its third vintage, is all about the soils. When the previous planting of Sauvignon Blanc was replaced, it was a no-brainer what to plant. “We’re in Stellenbosch and Cabernet is king,” Mark says. “And there was always a thought in the back of my mind that this is different to the rest of our Cab. We’d planned for it to go into a larger blend for the Estate Cabernet. And then tasting the wine, it had such a character of its own. It was so much more dense in colour. It was perfumed, fruit-forward.”
They decided it deserved a label of its own, and so Antigo was born. The Portuguese word for “ancient”, the name reflects soils that are, at 600 million years, the oldest wine-producing soils in the world, and it’s also a nod to the colour of the clay. The label has a distinct look compared to the rest of their more traditional portfolio: touches of rose gold with a subtle, tactile sparkle that reflects the soil, designed to appeal to wine lovers beginning their red-wine journey, as well as long-time oenophiles.
“We want people to look at Cabernet from a different perspective. Cabernet can be enjoyed in a relaxed setting. It can be fruit-forward,” Mark says. “It’s not just this heavy, dry, tannic, bold drink that you can only drink when it’s 15 years old and in winter.”
In the cellar
In its third vintage, the Antigo has now topped the magic 85% mark, officially allowing it to be labelled a Cabernet Sauvignon rather than a blend, although the 2021 vintage still includes a percentage of Petit Verdot and Merlot. For Mark it has always been about the Cabernet. “We’re not creating a blend, it’s about how we enhance that Cabernet. Cabernet on its own does have edges (we all have a few imperfections), so blending is like using a little sandpaper on the edge of your table. It’s not about changing the personality. The Waterford Estate Cab started with only 85% Cab, and today it’s 95%. Antigo is still relatively young, even though the vineyards are more than 10-plus years, which is already considered premium. The wine is working itself up.”
Comparing Cabernets
The two wines are from the same varietal, the same clone, and pretty much the same winemaking process, aged in French oak barrels. But as I discover when we sit down to a blind tasting back at the cellar, they are two very different wines.
“If you taste the wine from the higher, stony soils, you get a lot more perfume, more earthiness, dark fruit, and drier tannins,” Mark says. “Whereas lower down in the Antigo vineyard, the fruit is sweeter, the wine more plush, denser in colour and feel, with softer, more velvety tannin structure. That’s what the clay does.”
Waterford Antigo 2021
Antigo is a smooth Cabernet Sauvignon that can be enjoyed now or aged for up to 10 years from the vintage. It opens gently on the palate with juicy, vibrant fruit – lighter than more robust Cabernets – making it a versatile wine for food pairing. Think a rich tomato-based beef stews, or creamy mushroom pasta, deep umami dishes that have a hint of sweetness and complexity.
“Wine is such a great reflection of where it’s grown,” says Mark. “It’s a living product that reflects the environment and everything we did that year. So I’m glad that we put them in two separate bottles. The whole idea is when you visit these two sites and you taste the wines, they make sense.” And they really do.
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