This is my fifth regional report on Wines of South Africa’s July Taste the Earth tasting at the South African Embassy, this one focusing on Pinot Noir.
It’s well known that Pinot Noir is a difficult variety – thin skinned and sensitive (as you may recall from Sideways). In South Africa, there’s been little competition to rattle the cages of leading Pinot producers Hamilton Russell and Bouchard Finalyson.
A couple of years ago, I asked Cape Chamonix’s winemaker Gottfried Mocke why they had so little competition for high end Pinot Noir. His response was twofold. First, “they have much more established vineyards to work with than anyone else, and more than 10 years of experience with Pinot, also both estates focus on the variety where most other wineries make Pinot as one of several wines in there range.” Second, ”the problem with Pinot in South Africa is it is still too hot and only small pockets are suitable for the variety,” - in a nutshell, terroir really counts.
Anthony Hamilton Russell would readily agree – it took extensive soil research to identify which soils worked best for his Pinot and, at a vertical tasting (see here), he admitted that the quality of the Pinot had lagged behind their Chardonnay until relatively recently when they limited plantings to 52 hectares of stony, clay-rich, shale-derived soil.
Nonetheless, Mocke predicted that South Africa’s fortunes with Pinot Noir would change as more and more producers had access to wine from more established sites, “where the fruit is more concentrated and has a bit more character.” Last month’s Taste the Earth tasting provided the proof in the pudding – Cape Pinot Noir is on the up! You’ll find my tasting notes below of my stand out wines from those I tasted, together with details of the earth which gave birth to these successful Pinot Noirs.
Cape Chamonix Pinot Noir 2009 (Franschhoek) – pale, with delicate but intense black and red currant fruit. Youthful and angular right now – the acidity a bit elbowy – but based on previous vintages, I reckon it will flesh out. £ 12.95 (2008 vintage) at Stone Vine & Sun.
Soil type: Granite and Greywacke with some clay content but the key to Pinot Noir in Franschhoek lies in the vineyard’s elevation (540m).
Newton Johnson “D” Pinot Noir 2009 (Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley) - a well made darker style of Pinot Noir with plum, black cherry, spice and suede textured tannins. Good/solid. RRP: £17.95 at Bibendum
For winemaker Gordon Newton Johnson “fine fragments of quartz mixed in decomposed granite topsoil lends perfumed, delicate characters to the wine; while sub-layers of clay provide backbone and width to the palate.”
Radford Dale Freedom Pinot Noir 2009 (Elgin) - good varietal character with fresh and savoury elements to its fleshy, leesy plum and black cherry palate; nice length too. Good. RRP £19.99 at Les Caves de Pyrene
Winemakers Edouard Labeye and Jacques de Klerk reckon that altitude combined with rocky, mineral-rich soils has resulted in “an elegant expression of the varietal with cherry and berry aomas and has imparted a certain gunsmoke, flintiness to the nose.”
Hamilton Russell Pinot Noir 2008 (Hemel en Aarde) – shows the estate’s distinctive underbelly of smoke, earth and game but there’s bright plum and red and black berry and cherry fruit too with lifted violets. Good depth and length, with fine, textured tannins building on the finish. Very good. RRP: £ 26.99 at Handford Wines
Low-vigour, stony, clay-rich soil give rise to a tighter, drier, more complex mineral character and length to complement the varietal fruit.
Paul Cluver Seven Flags Pinot Noir 2006 (Elgin) - a seductive Pinot Noir with all the right notes on nose and palate – mushroom, cherry chocolate truffle and a velvety texture to boot. It’s very good but at this price point, lacks a bit of soul for me. £29.99 at South African Wines Online
Decomposed Bokkeveld Shale from a section of the vineyard where there is a more stony/gravely texture to the soil and the wine always have more depth, more layered minerality and greater length.
Sarah Ahmed
The Wine Detective
(Wines tasted 27 July 2010)
