Thelema Rabelais 2022
By Christian Eedes, 4 November 2025
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At a recent comparative tasting featuring 12 local examples of Bordeaux-style red blends alongside four of France’s finest from the 2015 vintage, I had Rabelais from Stellenbosch property Thelema top of the heap.
The newly released 2022 is a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Petit Verdot, matured for 18 months in 225-litre barrels, 75% new. Warm and dry conditions brought a slightly earlier harvest and wine carries half a degree lower in alcohol than 2021 (14% vs 14.5%). Pretty aromatics of red and black berries, rose, tobacco, oystershell and vanilla precede a palate that’s medium bodied with fresh acidity, fine tannins making for a creamy texture. It comes across as balanced and unshowy and should once again repay time in the cellar.
CE’s rating: 95/100.
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Wessel Strydom | 4 November 2025
I was privileged to enjoy a bottle of the 2019 vintage a few weeks ago. Utterly sublime
Greg Sherwood | 4 November 2025
A wine emerging as one of the top 5 Cape Bordeaux Blends in South Africa. I am pleased to say I have a case of 2015 and 2017 in my cellar for future drinking. Well done to the Webbs for elevating this wonderful wine from niche CWG anonimity.
Kwispedoor | 5 November 2025
To be fair, they’ve been very good at Bordeaux-style blends since the early 90’s. Sure, it was a Cab-Merlot, but it was always top notch.
Greg Sherwood | 5 November 2025
Definitely top notch… but was it Top 5 in the country top notch I wonder. Rabelais moved the Thelema red wine bar higher for sure.
Kwispedoor | 5 November 2025
To me it was. Those nineties blends were fantastic. Ripe and lively. And that eucalyptus/minty edge made it so recognisable and distinctive that one had a really good chance to spot it blind. It aged well to boot. To be fair, there were less contenders back then (Kanonkop, Welgemeend, Meerlust, Veenvouden, Backsberg, to name a few). Even so, still a top 5 Bordeaux-style red for me at the time. Admittedly, it’s much more difficult to be a top 5 nowadays, with such a proliferation of the style being made.
Ryan Coetzee | 6 November 2025
Would definitely have a bottle of the 15 now, the better to judge when to open the rest. It beat a La Mission, Pichon Comtesse and Las Cases. Quite a wine!