Why it matters
The producer
Rickety Bridge Private Cellar is a centuries-old wine estate in Franschhoek, where wine production sits alongside farm-style accommodation, a tasting centre and visitor facilities. The Crosbie family owns the winery, while the estate’s bottles carry a much older local history: Paulina’s Drift was the name given to the land in 1797, and Rickety Bridge recalls a crossing over the river that ran beside the farm.
The clearest wine thread runs through Foundation Stone White. Its 2020 blend is led by Chenin Blanc, with Mediterranean varieties bringing floral and spicy notes; early harvesting keeps acidity present while whole-bunch fermentation and large oak casks build body and a faint oak layer. It is a useful counterweight to Rickety Bridge Shiraz 2020, a red made with extended skin contact and oak maturation.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Franschhoek supplies the physical frame: Dassenberg Mountain on one side, the Franschhoek River on the other. The river is more than a scenic marker here, since the old railway bridge crossing it eventually supplied the estate’s present name. In the bottle, Franschhoek appears not as a formal vineyard hierarchy in this evidence, but as the shared origin of an estate whose white blend can also draw fruit from Paarl and Elgin.
That broader sourcing changes Foundation Stone White’s role. Rather than presenting a single-site white, it combines Chenin Blanc, Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, Viognier and Nouvelle into one dry, full-bodied blend, then uses separate ageing before the final assembly. The result is a wine built from several grape voices and cellar decisions rather than a claim of one parcel’s character.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
A later female owner expanded the farm and planted 40,000 vines for wine and brandy, placing vine cultivation at the centre of the property’s working life.
For Foundation Stone White, grapes are picked early to retain acidity. Whole bunches go into large oak foudres with natural yeast, leaving stems with the fruit during fermentation; that handling can support floral lift and spice while the large casks add texture more quietly than new small barrels. Each variety then matures separately for ten months before blending, preserving the distinct contribution of Chenin Blanc and the smaller Mediterranean components.
Wines to know
The range in view
The available named bottles show two useful directions. Foundation Stone White is a 2020 dry white blend: 46% Chenin Blanc, 22% Roussanne, 18% Grenache Blanc, 11% Viognier and 3% Nouvelle. Chenin supplies the largest share of body and ripe fruit, while Roussanne, Grenache Blanc and Viognier contribute floral and spicy detail. Short skin contact, fermentation in older 225-litre French oak barrels and a 2,500-litre oak cask, then ten months of separate maturation, give the finished blend weight and a restrained oak edge.
Rickety Bridge Shiraz 2020 is the red counterpart. The documented skin contact and oak maturation point toward deeper colour, tannin and oak seasoning rather than the white’s citrus-driven freshness and foudre-grown texture. Together, the pair show an estate working with both a layered white blend and a structured red, not a range defined by a single grape or one uniform cellar treatment.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Choose Foundation Stone White 2020. It is a dry, full-bodied blend led by Chenin Blanc, with Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, Viognier and Nouvelle, and it gathers the estate’s most clearly documented winemaking decisions into one glass. Early-picked fruit preserves acidity; whole bunches and natural yeast ferment in large oak foudres; each component then spends ten months in oak before blending. Expect peach, mango, a touch of honey, flowers, spice and subtle oak, followed by a rich texture held in check by fresh acidity.