in the vineyard : Soil: Low-vigour, stony, clay-rich, shale-derived soil.
Not just a Pinot Noir, but a classic, origin expressive wine
Hamilton Russell Vineyards Pinot Noir is different to most New World Pinot Noirs. Our low-vigour, stony, clay-rich soil, cool maritime mesoclimate, naturally tiny yields or around 35 hl/ha and our philosophy of expressing our terroir in our wines – give rise to a certain tightness, tannin line and elevated length to balance the richness and generosity of our Pinot Noir.
Our Pinot Noir is not overtly fruity, soft and ‘sweet’ and it generally shows hints of that alluring ‘primal’ character along with a dark, spicy, complex primary fruit perfume. For this reason, many knowledgeable enthusiasts around the world regard Hamilton Russell Vineyards as the best ‘Pinot Noir’ in South Africa and one of the best in the New World.
Growing Season
The vineyards had higher than average winter rainfall, lower than average spring rainfall and slightly lower than average rainfall during harvest. Overall, conditions for disease control were highly favourable and this combined with extremely low yields resulted in grapes of exceptional quality.
In terms of temperatures, it was a cool harvest, starting with a good winter chill and more even bud break than usual. December and March were particularly cool. The average of the maximum daily temperatures for the 4 hottest months of the year – Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar – was 24.2 Centigrade vs our long term average of 25.