This Week's Tasting
Jasper Raats - South African Winemaker Extraordinaire
August 5, 2026
These are wines of character and individuality: some may show austere now; others are generous and giving. Many are limited in quantity. We are offering some at greatly discounted prices.
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This Week Wednesday, August 5, 2026 Jasper Raats South African Winemaker Extraordinaire In-store, 5 - 6:30pm
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We are extremely happy to see Jasper Raats again. With his brother Bruwer, he founded Raats Family Wines, whose purity and balance made it a long-term Federal favorite. A few years ago, Jasper went off on his own and is now part-owner and the chief winemaker of Stellenbosch’s (the Napa of South Africa) Longridge Wine Estate as well as the author of some special wines under his own name.
Jasper is a fine winemaker in his own right. He has worked all over the world, from Burgundy to the Loire and New Zealand, where he established the Clos Henri winery for Sancerre’s Bourgeois family, to Napa and Sonoma’s Verite.
Longridge Wine Estate Farms is organic and biodynamic. There, he avoids using pesticides, herbicides, or chemical sprays and ferments with natural yeasts. They are more modern, cooler versions of Stellenbosch classics.
Jasper cuts loose with his Jasper Raats wines. They are winemakers’ fancies and poetics, small-lot expressions of their single vineyard micro-climates. He defiantly does not use their grapes’ normal winemaking techniques but does what he thinks best expresses their sites’ typicity. The wines are memorable in their individuality.
All Jasper’s wines are great value when you compare their quality with equivalents from other countries.
White
2024 Jasper Raats Concrete & Clay Chardonnay
No wood, just pure mountain chardonnay raised in amphora and concrete egg.
Platter’s Guide “Ripe citrus marmalade with pith & tang on confident, juicy 2024, vibrancy & texture from gestation in concrete 'egg' & clay amphora. Lovely composure all the way to limy finish.”
$23.95, Case $19.95
Rose
Longridge Emily’s Rose
All unwooded high-altitude Chardonnay with a little cool climate Pinot Noir added for color.
The winery calls it “A fresh wine with a lovely hue, bursting with aromas of ripe guava, pineapple, kiwi, green apple and a hint of strawberry, ending with a well-balanced acidity and a lingering finish.” Its price is also very good: $17.95. Case $14.95
Red
2023 Jasper Raats Basket & Barrel Pinot Noir
From a Stellenbosch mountain vineyard, it was harvested in baskets, then aged in wood for a richer, broader style.
“Animated 2023 delivers raspberry & spice in a supple & gentle structure, with core of bright fruit framed by well-knit dry tannins. Time in oak down from 24 months in 2022. From biodynamic-farmed vineyard, as all.” $23.95, Case $19.95
2023 Longridge Pinotage
South Africa's ‘indigenous’ grape. Longridge’s expression emphasizes the pinot side of the parentage rather than the (Hermit)age (Cinsault). Again, higher altitude in Stellenbosch to catch the cool breezes off False Bay.
Platter “Muscular & broad 2023, vibrant blueberry with dry tannin grip. Same handling as before: cold soak, partial ferment in bin & tank, then 45% new oak. Will reward patience.” $32, Case $26.95
2022 Jasper Raats Raincatcher Red
A Bordeaux Left Bank blend with nearly all Cabernet and bits of Merlot for breadth and Petit Verdot for structure. Its firm style is also decidedly classic Left Bank.
Aroma: Bright and intense, very ripe and firm, a nice edge, satisfyingly crisp. Bright and lifted; Mouth: light and leaner on entry, smooth, bright, intense, finely delineated forward; Very Good Plus $21.95, Case $18.95
2022 Longridge Cabernet Sauvignon
Also, mountain, and in addition, carefully not over-extracted, it is smooth and refined, for drinking now, with five to eight years to go.
“Meticulously constructed 2022, ferment begun in bins, finished in tank before 2 years in seasoned barrique Lithe, restrained & complex, with good concentration & depth of violet-edged cassis. Improves on last-tasted 2020 $21.95, Case $18.95
Mix any 12 of your own bottles at their case prices
People who come to the tasting get any bottle(s) at the discounted price.
Len Rothenberg
Order by phone at 617.367.8605, or reserve here: order@federalwine.com
Please pass this on to any friends who are wine enthusiasts!
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FREE DELIVERY!
downtown on orders more than $75;
in Greater Boston on orders more than $199
