published on: Thursday, 23 August 2012
The blue helicopter swooped down low over La Vierge this morning and for a moment we thought Anthony Hamilton Russell and Olive had forsaken the yacht on the Baltic and flown down to the Pinot Noir event arranged by Marc van Halderen.
But it was just some tourists dropping by for lunch.
25 Pinot Noirs were presented in four flights: half local and half foreign. From my tasting notes of the local wines it is clear that when Miguel Chan noted “most SA Pinots are released too young” he was certainly correct about the youth with the oldest wine a 2009 and the youngest a 2011. Among the imports, the oldest was a 1999 Corton from Bichot and the youngest an Echezaux 2008 from Duband which was seriously disappointing. Thank heavens for blind tastings!
Present at the event were the brightest and best of the Hemel & Aarde’s winemakers (below), with the exception of the surfing Newton Johnson brothers and PAF who were away on Neptune business. The SA wines showed brilliantly against the (mainly French) imports and confirmed the depth of the field. My favourite was the host's 2010 La Vierge whose passion for the heartbreak grape confirmed a bright future for the classiest cultivar thriving at the southernmost tip.
Click HERE to read complete blog by Neil Pendock.
