South Africa · Stellenbosch

Raats Family Wines

A Polkadraai Hills producer founded in 2000 around Stellenbosch Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc.

The producer

Bruwer Raats founded Raats Family Wines in 2000 in the Polkadraai Hills of Stellenbosch, choosing Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc as the estate’s two central grapes. Dolomite-granite, decomposed granite and Table Mountain sandstone appear across its Polkadraai and wider Stellenbosch parcels, giving the wines a firm geographic footing rather than a generic regional label.

Known for

Stellenbosch Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc, from Old Vine Chenin Blanc to Dolomite Cabernet Franc and structured red blends.

Notable facts

The story

The Polkadraai Purchase

When Bruwer Raats founded Raats Family Wines in 2000, the plots he had bought in the Polkadraai Hills were inexpensive because they were considered undesirable at the time. He established the winery there and built its work around Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc, rather than planting a broad collection of grapes. The choice fixed both the address and the range: the estate remains based in Polkadraai, Stellenbosch, and Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc still lead the bottles. Old Vine Chenin Blanc carries the white grape into a textured, citrus-led style, while Dolomite Cabernet Franc takes the red grape toward floral, savoury fruit and tannin.

From the atlas

Raats Family Wines

At A Glance

Raats Family Wines began in 2000 in the Polkadraai Hills of Stellenbosch, built by Bruwer Raats around Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc. That narrow starting point still shapes the bottles: Old Vine Chenin Blanc carries the white grape at the centre of the range, Dolomite Cabernet Franc gives the red grape a focused expression, and Jasper Red Blend and MR de Compostella take the red-wine work into blends.

The estate sits on Vlaeberg Road in Polkadraai, within Stellenbosch in South Africa’s Western Cape. Its vineyards draw on dolomite-granite, decomposed granite and Table Mountain sandstone, so the place is present as ground and parcels rather than as a loose regional label.

The Producer

Bruwer Raats founded the estate to work specifically with Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc, two grapes that remain its principal materials. Gavin Bruwer Slabbert joined the family business in 2010, while Bruwer’s sons Samuel and Joshua have taken roles in vineyards and cellar work, and marketing respectively. The family structure reaches the bottles through work divided between growing grapes, making wine and bringing it to market.

MR de Compostella adds another name to that work. It is a collaboration between Bruwer Raats and winemaker Mzokona Mvemve, made as a separate red-blend project rather than as a renamed Cabernet Franc.

Place

Polkadraai lies in the Stellenbosch area, and Raats works both there and in surrounding Stellenbosch vineyard sites. That wider sourcing matters because the range is built from two grapes rather than one estate parcel: Chenin Blanc is the main planting, with Cabernet Franc the smaller but defining red component.

Independent regional material reports roughly 25 hectares and annual production of just over 10,000 twelve-bottle cases. It also places plantings at about 80% Chenin Blanc and 20% Cabernet Franc, a balance that explains why the white wine has a central place while the reds concentrate on a smaller set of named bottles.

Soil And Site

The estate describes Polkadraai through dolomite-granite soils. Other parcels in the Polkadraai Hills and wider Stellenbosch are described as decomposed granite and Table Mountain sandstone. Those different grounds are part of the vineyard selection behind the wines, rather than a claim that every bottle comes from one soil type.

Some of the reported vineyard parcels are dry-farmed, south-facing and planted at 300 to 400 metres. Less irrigation and cooler-facing exposure can slow ripening, which helps retain acidity in Chenin Blanc and keeps Cabernet Franc’s fruit and tannin from becoming heavy.

Story

The first decision was practical as well as varietal. When Bruwer Raats established the winery in 2000, he had bought inexpensive Polkadraai plots considered undesirable at the time. He founded the business around Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc, making the land purchase the starting point for a range that still returns to those two grapes.

The story then became a family business without changing its grape focus. Gavin Bruwer Slabbert joined in 2010; Samuel works with vineyards and cellar work; Joshua handles marketing. The result is a producer with a long-running Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc programme, alongside a collaborative red blend made with Mzokona Mvemve.

Vineyards And Cellar

Raats’s vineyard material includes dry-farmed parcels and sites on granite and sandstone. In the glass, that work is most useful when read through structure: Chenin Blanc can hold acidity and fruit weight together, while Cabernet Franc can carry tannin, savoury notes and floral lift without relying on overt oak character.

The cellar approach changes with the bottle. Dolomite Cabernet Franc is matured in neutral oak, so the barrel is intended to support texture and tannin rather than cover the grape with new-oak flavour. Jasper Red Blend has its own barrel regime, while MR de Compostella is assembled from components judged in a blind tasting; any component scoring below 90 is left out of the final blend.

Wines

Old Vine Chenin Blanc 2024 is the white anchor: a current-vintage Chenin Blanc with its own élevage and ageing guidance. Its role is not to imitate the red wines’ tannin and barrel shape, but to show Chenin Blanc as a white wine with fruit, acidity, texture and a finish that can carry development in bottle.

Dolomite Cabernet Franc is the direct red-variety bottle. Neutral-oak maturation keeps Cabernet Franc’s fruit, floral and savoury side in view, while its tannin gives the wine a firmer frame than the Chenin Blanc. The supplied Dolomite product reference carries a vintage discrepancy, so the bottle should be checked for its current vintage at purchase.

Jasper Red Blend 2023 and MR de Compostella 2023 are separate red blends, not two labels for the same wine. Jasper has its own grape mix and barrel regime; MR de Compostella is selected component by component through blind tasting. Together they show two routes from the estate’s red-wine work: one shaped by its blend and barrels, the other by a strict final selection.

In The Glass

Across the range, start with the division between white-wine acidity and red-wine tannin. Old Vine Chenin Blanc moves through fruit and citrus notes with a broader mid-palate than a simple light white; its acidity keeps the texture moving into the finish. The grapes and élevage make that combination of fruit, body and finish more useful than a vague claim of freshness.

Dolomite Cabernet Franc shifts toward red and dark fruit, floral and savoury tones, with tannin providing grip through the palate. Because it is matured in neutral oak, the structure is carried more by fruit and tannin than by vanilla or toast. Jasper and MR de Compostella add blend-driven weight and spice, with barrel maturation and component selection giving the reds different textures and finishes.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Raats Old Vine Chenin Blanc 2024. It puts the estate’s founding white grape first, rather than asking a first encounter to decode a red blend. Expect fruit and citrus notes, acidity through the palate, a fuller Chenin Blanc texture and a finish with enough shape for ageing. It connects the Polkadraai-based estate, the producer’s Chenin Blanc focus and a named current bottle in one glass.

Anecdote

When Bruwer Raats founded Raats Family Wines in 2000, the Polkadraai Hills plots he had bought were inexpensive because they were considered undesirable at the time. He established the winery there anyway, then built it around Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc rather than a broad assortment of varieties. The founding took place in the same Polkadraai part of Stellenbosch where the estate remains based on Vlaeberg Road, and the two grapes chosen at the start still lead the range through Old Vine Chenin Blanc and Dolomite Cabernet Franc.

Final Word

Raats is easiest to understand through its materials: Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc, Polkadraai ground, and a small set of bottles that separate white-wine texture from Cabernet Franc grip and red-blend weight.

Sources

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