2019 Vilafonte Seriously Old Dirt Red Paarl 750 ml

Zelma Long and Philip Freese helped shape some of America’s most iconic Cabernet wines. Long was the winemaker at Mondavi in its 1970s heyday and mentored icons like Paul Hobbs and Geneviève Janssens, while Freese helped design the first Opus One vineyards. For their personal venture, they could’ve had their pick of top California sites. 

Instead, they hopped on a flight to Paarl, South Africa. 

The duo simply couldn’t resist the region’s ocean-cooled climate and ancient benchland soils, which they knew were perfect for Bordeaux varieties. From that land, Vilafonté was born. And their 94-point 2019 Seriously Old Dirt Red shows such vibrancy and firm Left Bank structure that you’ll understand why Long and Freese chose South Africa over Napa’s elite.

Built on 86% Cabernet Sauvignon with touches of Malbec, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc, the Seriously Old Dirt is grown entirely on their estate vineyard at the foot of the Simonsberg Mountains. The soils here are some of the oldest in the world—undisturbed by glaciation, volcanic activity, and sedimentary deposits for millennia. They’re poor and well-draining, and vines planted at an extremely high density struggle to produce intensely concentrated fruit.

Founded in partnership with South African wine luminary Mike Ratcliffe, Vilafonté was the nation’s first-ever US/South Africa joint winemaking venture. Zelma Long told Decanter it’s “the climax of all of the learning I’ve done about winemaking and wine growing.”

That’s decades of experience come to bear, and it shows in this 2019’s black-fruit energy, savory depths, and grippy tannins. Just like they did in 1970s Napa Valley, Long and her team are showing just how much Cabernet sophistication and complexity you can get from a rising-star region.