Buying Guide: Pinot Noir

The caprice of Pinot Noir is legendary, exceeded only by its capacity to enthrall. At a recent panel tasting Tony Mossop measured the success of diehard South African winemakers who have persisted in playing with it.

 

Flagstone's whimsical Bruce Jack summed up Pinot on one of his labels: "The Heartbreak Grape". Ask almost any of our Pinotphile wine-makers why they bother, and you'll get the "Everest" answer: "Because it's there." Well, this time a goodly number seem to have scaled the peak. Our 2003 Pinot Noir tasting was a revelation.

"Standards are way up on just a few years ago," felt Glen Carlou's David Finlayson. "I'm sure the constant 'workshopping' among producers, like the Pinot Weekends hosted by Anthony Hamilton Russell, have made a difference. There's nothing like having your wine trashed by your colleagues in a blind tasting to get you going!"

As an observer at most of them, I can vouch for that. And the virtual replanting of our Pinot Noir vineyards with superior Burgundian clones has resulted in a new generation of deeper-coloured, more fleshy, seductive wines, far from the earthy, often weedy BK5 clone offerings of the past.

Pinot may be a niche category, but it is certainly popular among those in the know. "A great restaurant wine - it offers far more food matching possibilities than most other reds," observed Woolworths buyer Allan Mullins, but he added that it occupied only a small, high-priced segment of the wine business at Woolworths.

In the past we battled to find 4 Star wines in our Pinot line-ups. This tasting yielded no fewer than four, while over half of the 27 wines tasted scored 3 Stars and more.

Cape Wine Master Cornel Spies, a Burgundy aficionado, cautioned us not to hold unreasonable expectations of Cape Pinot Noir. "This is not Burgundy: we just don't have those 50-year-old vineyards like they do. Even those BK5 sites which have now been replanted are less than two decades old. As our vines age, we will see even more improvements."

We all agreed that some serious searching has gone into site selection to produce great wines like the Walker Bay pair, Hamilton Russell and Bouchard Finlayson. "Pinot, more than almost any other grape, needs its territorial requirements to be respected," noted Bouchard Finlayson's Peter Finlayson.

But it's encouraging to see some fine wines from other areas scoring well too, like the very Burgundian Meerlust 1999, the oldest wine on the table, and the classy cool-climate Paul Cluver from Elgin.

Spies, who's also planning to grow Pinot on his Elgin property and make it his Holy Grail wine, notes that even in the misty Elgin hills you have to look for the coolest slopes.

The "boutique" offerings from outfits like Cathy Marshall's Barefoot (BWC), Clive Torr's Topaz, and those of David Trafford all show consistent improvement over the last couple of years.

"Still quite a few rather simple, jelly-baby, fruit pastille-type wines," noted Spies, "but not too much abuse of oak, fortunately."

We all agreed that good Pinot fruit needs a healthy dose of new French cooperage - the wines of the Côte d'Or show how it's done. Fortunately, this tasting was not marred by too many over-oaked or faulty wines. Some producers do have a better handle on the variety, their sites and their cellar techniques than others.

But nothing that a few more workshops won't fix!

Winemakers from Oregon to New Zealand, from the Yarra Valley in Australia to Hermanus, are forging ahead, trying to understand and mould this wonderfully capricious grape. This tasting proved that a handful of our winemakers can hold their own in most company. Let's hope the 2003 vintage is as auspicious as we all think it will be.

AVONTUUR 2000
CELLAR PRICE: R49.00
Ruby plum. Red berry nose with strawberry and cherry whiffs. Full and plump with silky but prominent tannins. Well balanced oak and velvety fruit. Allow 1 to 5 years.

HAMILTON RUSSELL 2001
CELLAR PRICE: R195.00
Deep ruby, brick rim. Big mocha and smoky bacon nose with sweet, juicy, fruit flavour. Good fruit/acid balance and ripe tannins with savoury finish. Enjoy now or within 5 years.

FLAGSTONE
THE POETRY COLLECTION 2000
CELLAR PRICE: R212.00
Ruby, brick red rim. Great colour and a "wow" nose! Delicate strawberry and cream, coffee, vanilla and clove aromas. Supple, savoury flavours. Great length and a lingering finish. Will open up in 1 to 4 years.

BOUCHARD FINLAYSON
GALPIN PEAK TÊTE DE CUVÉE 2001
APPROX CELLAR PRICE: R380.00
Plum, crimson rim. Complex mélange of sweet vanilla, chocolate, cherries and licorice whiffs. Warm, ripe cherry and strawberry on palate. Silky and sensuous, with savoury finish. Tight grippy tannins. Enjoy now or within 5 years.

PAUL CLUVER 2001
CELLAR PRICE: R90.00
Lively ruby hue. Chocolate, vanilla and wood spice on nose. Berry and cherry flavours with lovely mouthfeel and ripe tannins. Excellent length. Open in 2 to 4 years.

BOUCHARD FINLAYSON
GALPIN PEAK 2001
CELLAR PRICE: R145.00
Plum, brick red rim. Chocolate, mocha and smoky cherries on nose. Ripe and jammy on palate with hints of raisin. Big, smooth, soft and sweet. Full-bodied with excellent length. Chunky fruitcake flavours. Few rough edges should soften out in 3 to 5 years.

MEERLUST 1999
CELLAR PRICE: R855.00 [for a six-bottle case]
Clear ruby red. Complex cherry/strawberry nose. Whiffs of mushroom and forest floor. Classic smoky, leathery cherry stone flavours. Succulent, mellow and well aged. Savour now or within 6 years.

Klein Optenhorst 2001 ARP R90.00
BWC 2002 ARP R91.20
Flagstone BK5 2001 R101.32
Flagstone Strata The Heartbreak Grape 2001 R101.32
Topaz 2002 ARP R112.00
Vriesenhof 2000 SO R145.00
De Trafford 2001 R180.00

Eikendal 2000 SO R35.00
Groote Post 2000 R44.00
Thandi 2001(Paul Cluver) R60.00
Glen Carlou 2002 R70.00
Stark 2001 (Starke-Condé) LA R80.00
Whalehaven 2000 R84.00
Flagstone Bacchus Speaks 2001 R200.12

Muratie 2001 R78.00
Newton Johnson 2001 (Cape Bay) SO R90.00

Klein Constantia 2001 R80.00
Haute-Cabrière 2001 R89.00
Buitenverwachting 2001 [Price available on request]

Also tasted:
Sumaridge 2001 SO R65.00

Prices: All ex-cellar unless otherwise stipulated. Wines in each star category are listed in order of ascending price.

ARP: Approximate retail price
LA: Limited availability
SO: Sold out

WINE TASTERS: Cape Wine Masters Tony Mossop (panel chairman), Allan Mullins and Cornel Spies; David Finlayson, Glen Carlou cellarmaster, and Peter Finlayson, Bouchard Finlayson cellarmaster.

PROCEDURES: Tasting done "blind". Wines poured at 16°C. The 20-point scoring system was used: 5 Star = 18 or more out of 20; 4 Star = 16 or 17; 3 Star = 15. Star ratings awarded on the basis of discussion and consensus. Wine identities not revealed to panellists until publication of the assessments.

Superlative wine, a masterpiece. World-class.
Excellent, wine of distinction. Recommended for special occasions
                   and cellaring.
Good to very good. Fine character and style. Suitable for cellaring.
Above average. Appealing.
Average. Acceptable.