South Africa · Stellenbosch

Warwick Wine Estate

Simonsberg Cabernet Sauvignon with a family-made origin story: Warwick’s first wine was the 1984 La Femme Bleu, released after the Ratcliffes had spent twenty years on the farm.

The producer

Warwick Wine Estate farms the foothills and middle slopes of Simonsberg Mountain in the Western Cape, at 240–360 metres. Ocean breezes cool Cabernet Sauvignon, Bordeaux varieties, Pinotage and old-vine Chenin Blanc; Cabernet accounts for a quarter of the vines, making it the estate’s central red-wine thread.

Norma and Stan Ratcliffe arrived in 1964 and waited twenty years before releasing La Femme Bleu Cabernet Sauvignon in 1984. Its Blue Lady name still connects Warwick’s earliest bottle to today’s Cabernet Sauvignon, while Trilogy offers a separate three-variety expression with fruit, spice and floral character.

Known for

Cabernet Sauvignon-led wines from Simonsberg slopes, alongside Bordeaux blends, Pinotage and old-vine Chenin Blanc.

Notable facts

The story

Norma Ratcliffe’s first vintage

For Norma Ratcliffe’s first vintage at Warwick, the equipment was not yet in place. She borrowed tanks and yeast, and the grapes were crushed at Morgenhof rather than on the estate. Fermentation then took place in Warwick’s old pack shed. That makeshift harvest led to the Cabernet Sauvignon released in 1984 as La Femme Bleu. The bottling comprised 1,500 bottles, and Norma became known as “The Blue Lady.” The name remains attached to Warwick’s Cabernet Sauvignon line, linking the present label to a vintage made with borrowed cellar equipment.

From the atlas

Warwick Wine Estate

At A Glance

Warwick Wine Estate sits on the foothills and middle slopes of Simonsberg Mountain in South Africa’s Western Cape, between 240 and 360 metres above sea level. Cabernet Sauvignon is its largest planting, accounting for one quarter of the land under vine, so the estate’s history and range begin with a grape that remains physically central to the farm.

The Producer

Warwick is built around a long wait before a first bottle. Norma and Stan Ratcliffe arrived with the family in 1964, then spent twenty years before releasing the 1984 La Femme Bleu Cabernet Sauvignon. That first wine fixed Cabernet Sauvignon at the centre of Warwick’s story; the vineyard has since remained broader, with Bordeaux varieties, Pinotage and old-vine Chenin Blanc alongside it.

Place

Simonsberg Mountain supplies Warwick with height as well as a name on the map. The vines occupy foothills and middle slopes rather than a flat, low-lying site, while ocean breezes move through the vineyards. Elevation and cooling air slow the heat of the growing season, a useful condition for Cabernet Sauvignon because ripe fruit can retain acidity and carry tannin without becoming heavy.

Soil And Site

The documented site runs from 240 to 360 metres, so Warwick’s vineyards work across a meaningful rise in altitude. Ocean breezes cool plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon, other Bordeaux grapes, Pinotage and old-vine Chenin Blanc; the result is a vineyard layout that can support both red-wine depth and the fresher fruit profile needed by Chenin Blanc.

Story

Before it was Warwick, the property was De Goede Sukses, granted to its first owner in 1771. Colonel William Alexander Gordon bought the farm in 1912 and renamed it for the Warwickshire Regiment. The Ratcliffes’ arrival in 1964 added a winemaking chapter, but not an immediate release: two decades passed before La Femme Bleu appeared in 1984, turning the estate name into a Cabernet Sauvignon label.

In 2018, Eileses Capital, a San Francisco investment company, acquired Warwick Wines. The estate’s visible thread still runs back through the first release: Cabernet Sauvignon occupies a quarter of the vines, and Blue Lady carries forward the name associated with La Femme Bleu and Norma Ratcliffe’s early work.

Vineyards And Cellar

Warwick’s vineyard planting is deliberately mixed. Cabernet Sauvignon provides the main red-grape anchor, while other Bordeaux varieties offer material for blends; Pinotage and old-vine Chenin Blanc widen the cellar’s options beyond that Bordeaux frame. The cool mountain foothills and ocean breezes matter in the cellar because fruit arriving with acidity can support dry reds with grip and length rather than relying on oak for weight.

The early cellar was far less settled than the present estate. Norma Ratcliffe’s first vintage used borrowed tanks and yeast, with grapes crushed away from Warwick before fermentation in the old pack shed. That practical beginning makes the first Cabernet release feel earned: the wine was made before there was a purpose-built winemaking routine around it.

Wines

Blue Lady is Warwick’s historic Cabernet Sauvignon line, tracing back to the 1984 La Femme Bleu. Cabernet is a fitting thread for the range because it is the estate’s most planted grape; the 2020 Blue Lady is recorded as Cabernet Sauvignon and oak-aged, setting up a dry red profile where fruit, oak and tannin are expected to share the palate.

Trilogy takes a different role. Introduced two years after the first Warwick-labelled release, it is a three-variety wine rather than a single-grape Cabernet statement. The 2019 Trilogy is described through fruit, spice and floral notes, so the blend’s interest lies in layered aroma and flavour rather than the varietal focus of Blue Lady.

In The Glass

Trilogy begins with fruit, spice and floral character, a sequence that moves from ripe aroma into more savoury detail. As a three-variety wine, it is built for overlap: fruit can fill the middle of the palate while spice and floral notes keep the finish from reading as merely sweet-fruited.

Blue Lady 2020 puts Cabernet Sauvignon and oak ageing at the foreground. Cabernet brings the grape’s dry-red frame of acidity and tannin, while oak ageing adds another structural element around the fruit. These are not interchangeable wines: Trilogy gathers several varieties into one layered profile, while Blue Lady follows a single grape from Warwick’s vineyard emphasis into the glass.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Blue Lady Cabernet Sauvignon. It links the estate’s most planted cultivar to the 1984 La Femme Bleu, Warwick’s first release, and to Norma Ratcliffe’s nickname after that initial bottling. Choose it for a dry Cabernet-shaped experience: fruit held inside acidity and tannin, with oak ageing contributing weight and a longer finish. It is the clearest bottle for seeing why Cabernet Sauvignon has remained such a large part of Warwick’s vineyard.

Anecdote

For Norma Ratcliffe’s first vintage at Warwick, the basic equipment was not all on hand. She borrowed tanks and yeast, then had the grapes crushed at Morgenhof rather than on the estate. The crushed grapes travelled back to Warwick, where fermentation took place in the farm’s old pack shed. From that improvised arrangement came the wine released in 1984 as La Femme Bleu Cabernet Sauvignon. Only 1,500 bottles were made, and the release earned Norma the nickname “The Blue Lady.”

Final Word

Warwick is easiest to approach through its physical facts: Cabernet Sauvignon occupies a quarter of the vineyard, the vines sit high on Simonsberg’s slopes, and ocean breezes cool the fruit. Blue Lady brings those facts into one oak-aged Cabernet Sauvignon bottle; Trilogy shows the estate working with a three-variety blend instead.

Sources

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