Winemaker Notes
#51 Wine Enthusiast Top 100 Wines of 2019
An elegant wine showing beautiful balance and length from the natural acidity—a faithful depiction of the site’s lighter structured, decomposed Granite soils. Displays layers of dark cherry, berry and wood spice. A silky tannin structure compliments the spicy primary fruit perfume.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
There's an herbal edge right upfront on the nose of this wine, with some earthy foliage, raw cocoa nib and fresh-tilled dirt aromas that are amply supported by a fruity core of red cherry flesh, plum, wild strawberry and raspberry. The bright palate offers beautiful minerality, as pristine, pure red-fruit flavors are coupled with a saline burst on the midpalate and through the close. Fine tannins lend a subtle structure. It's well balanced, focused and precise, a gorgeous wine that is hard to resist now and should evolve well through 2028.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Pinot Noir Vrede has slightly darker fruit than the Ignis this year: dark cherries, boysenberry and wild hedgerow scents that are neatly enmeshed with the 25% new oak. The palate is medium-bodied with fine delineation. There is plenty of sappy red cherry and raspberry fruit here; it is saline in the mouth with a pinch of black pepper on the finish that has a touch of more structure and backbone.
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Wine Spectator
Juicy and fruit-filled, with crushed currant, plum and cherry notes that are carried by light anise, black tea and cinnamon accents. Has a fleshy edge but stays racy and focused overall, with nice energy throughout. Drink now through 2021.
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Wine & Spirits
Hannes Storm farms this five-acre parcel two miles from the Atlantic, south of False Bay. It’s planted on a mix of shale and clay, the young vines producing a rosy, red-fruited pinot, its savory tension mellowed by lush notes of cherries. It feels clean and coastal, ready to serve cellar temperature with roast fish with a red-wine reduction.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
With an important wine renaissance in full swing, impressive red and white bargains abound in South Africa. The country has a particularly long and rich history with winemaking, especially considering its status as part of the “New World.” In the mid-17th century, the lusciously sweet dessert wines of Constantia were highly prized by the European aristocracy. Since then, the South African wine industry has experienced some setbacks due to the phylloxera infestation of the late 1800s and political difficulties throughout the following century.
Today, however, South Africa is increasingly responsible for high-demand, high-quality wines—a blessing to put the country back on the international wine map. Wine production is mainly situated around Cape Town, where the climate is generally warm to hot. But the Benguela Current from Antarctica provides brisk ocean breezes necessary for steady ripening of grapes. Similarly, cooler, high-elevation vineyard sites throughout South Africa offer similar, favorable growing conditions.
South Africa’s wine zones are divided into region, then smaller districts and finally wards, but the country’s wine styles are differentiated more by grape variety than by region. Pinotage, a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault, is the country’s “signature” grape, responsible for red-fruit-driven, spicy, earthy reds. When Pinotage is blended with other red varieties, like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah or Pinot Noir (all commonly vinified alone as well), it is often labeled as a “Cape Blend.” Chenin Blanc (locally known as “Steen”) dominates white wine production, with Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc following close behind.