Once a year, just before harvest, many of the
vineyards in the Hemel and Aarde valley get together and hold their Pinot Noir
Celebration. This year, we were thrilled and delighted to be invited by
Creation Wines to attend and tell the story of the Celebration
We booked
accommodation in the area and arrived for registration at 10h30 on Friday, 24th
January
Three bubblies of the area were
there to help us start the day: Two from Domaine de Dieux, the award winning
Claudia and the Rose of Sharon Brut Rosé. We also enjoyed the MCC from Creation, new to many of the visitors, “Elation”,
a maiden vintage 2015 MCC blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Classified ‘Brut
Nature’, the wine contains only natural residual sugar. Perfumed, with blossom,
apple and strawberry notes & some brioche; on the palate, light pink
grapefruit, apple, a touch of umami and good minerality on the end. So
enjoyable
And we met two of our
readers, the Smiths, who used to be Main Ingredient customers
And in case any of us were flagging
from the early start
(we did leave early to drive through and check in at our
accommodation),
there was a breakfast buffet of note to sustain us all
Small seed and nut
sweet muffins, spanakopita triangles with tzatziki dip, smoked salmon and caviar
on soft blinis
Egg and bacon
tartlets
Bacon wrapped
sausages with a mustard dip
Who could resist
these smoked salmon and caviar blinis? Not us
Devils on Horseback
- glazed, bacon wrapped prunes
More old friends,
Michele Guttler Roos from Sea Point and Dr Dorothy Olshfski from Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey
Norma Ratcliffe
with Keynote speaker Remington Norman, Master
Remington is an
author and a well respected expert on Burgundy and Rhône wines.
Nidderdale is not a
wine farm; it is an apple farm and the views across the orchards are rather
special
The crowd of
arrivals grew
Roland Peens, director of The Wine Cellar, also
a keynote speaker at the weekend, with Restaurateur Neil
Grant
The Pinot Noir Celebration is
organised each year by Craig and Anne Wessels of Restless River
Craig is the Chairman of the
Hemel and Aarde Winegrowers' Association
After registration, we were taken in small groups in these minibuses to three farms to see the vineyards
and hear from their owner/winemakers. We would visit, in turn, the Hemel and Aarde Valley
ward, the Upper Hemel and Aarde Valley ward and the Hemel and Aarde Ridge ward
and explore the different terroirs
Our group went
first to Bouchard Finlayson
where we had a view of the
devastation caused by the shocking fire that swept down the valley just a
couple of weeks before. The hill used to be lush and green. Luckily, the vineyards in the upper sections of the
valley were not damaged, although lower valley estate Hamilton Russell lost
about 10% of their vineyards and Bouchard Finlayson also suffered
Peter Finlayson, who founded
Bouchard Finlayson in 1989, told us about their special terroir and then took
us into the vineyards to see them for ourselves
It was a large,
interested crowd of Pinot Noir enthusiasts
Another of our keynote speakers
for the weekend was Jan “Boland” Coetzee, who is the owner and winemaker at his
farm, Vriesenhof Vineyards in Stellenbosch. Jan, who is passionate about
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, is one of SA’s modern wine pioneers and a Springbok rugby
legend. Loved and respected in the wine industry, he mentors and inspires
young winemakers
A beautiful bunch
of Pinot Noir in the vineyard
They had dug a hole
so that we could see how far down the roots go in this dense and ancient soil
Leaves turning red,
harvest is not far off
Bouchard
Finlayson's tasting room
Back on the bus and
up the hill to the Upper Hemel and Aarde Valley to visit Newton Johnson
Winemaker Gordon Newton Johnson
told us about their soil and the challenges of farming in the area on 550
million year old Cape granite with quartz and silica crystal inclusions, and
with clay beneath. It does seem to produce much softer, more perfumed and more
seductive Pinot Noirs. Some of the lower vineyards are very stony, like Châteauneuf
du Pape, and this is where they grow the grapes for the Full Stop Rock Rhône
style blend. It gives denser, heavier reds, more broody and with good texture
Peter Clark, joint
owner of Domaine de Dieux
The Newton Johnson tasting
room, restaurant and deck has fantastic views over their own and other estates’
vineyards, the hills, down to the sea and the lagoon and further to Betty's Bay
and Cape Hangklip
Gordon told us of the other
grape varietals planted in the area, of which 40% is Chardonnay. There is some Cabernet Sauvignon
on Restless River and the Rhône varietals are on the lower parts of the farm. The Newton Johnsons have planted some Albarinho,
the first in the Cape, and it produced a four star Platter wine in 2018; a really lovely
wine
Visiting from the
Swartland was Adi Badenhorst, winemaker and co-owner of AA Badenhorst Family
Wines
An interesting feature 'etched'
on the windows of Newton Johnson's tasting room is a time line of the Hemel and
Aarde valley
Adi in deep
discussion with Wendy Appelbaum, owner of DeMorgenzon in Stellenbosch
And then we moved up the valley
to the Ridge and to Kevin Grant’s farm Ataraxia, from which you can see Domaine
de Dieux to the left of the curve in the road and Creation winery, just above the row of trees
If you are driving in the area,
you cannot miss the Ataraxia tasting room, looking just like a Greek Church, perched
high on a hill
Sharon Parnell,
co-owner of Domaine de Dieux, told us about the soils and farming in the area
Shane Mullis of
Domaine de Dieux
Oh Kevin, what a great idea!
As
this was our third winery in a couple of hours, we so needed to taste some wine
to slake our thirst. It was very welcome
Kevin Grant, owner and
winemaker at Ataraxia. He told us a lovely story, which he had read in a book,
of a Mr Marais who came to the area, tasted the wine and wrote about it. That
was in 1825! So wine is not a new development in the valley. Ataraxia is a dry land farm, which is
blessed with more rain than London. They need longevity on the vines. There are
14 different soils on the 14 Ataraxia hectares. The Ridge has the most Pinot
Noir in the valley as well as some Rhône and other varietals. "We have this dirt,
we love this dirt, we want to work with it and we want to get this dirt into
the bottle", said Kevin. And he certainly does; his wines all show the character
of his terroir which, for some of us, is recognisable
The wine we enjoyed with him was
the Ataraxia 2017 Chardonnay. It has golden fruit on the nose with white peach,
golden oak, some citrus and is very, very elegant. It has a lovely texture,
clean citrus and more white peach on the palate, with white Bing cherry; long
flavours with the perfume of peach remaining. Superb and priced at R265
Gerhard Smith,
winemaker with J C Martin at Creation
The tasting room is
also an art gallery
with comfortable
sofas and chairs. They had laid on some roasted nuts and some biltong, all
welcome
Church windows with
fabulous views
And then we were
transported back to Nidderdale for a tasting and some lunch
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2019
