Peter Finlayson, Walker Bay
It can make you if you get it right, and it can break you if you get it wrong. Pinot is something Peter Finlayson is passionate about in Walker Bay, outside Hermanus.
A recipe for a ‘perfect’ experience… Put on a recording of grand opera, something where the music truly soars – La Boheme, for example; open a bottle of Bouchard Finlayson Galpin Peak Pinot Noir and pour yourself a glass. Lean back, listen to the music, sip the wine. It’s more than a self-indulgence. It’s a caressing of the senses, and it works.
It was Peter Finlayson who led me to the ‘recipe’, when I asked him what it was about Pinot Noir that held so many winemakers spellbound. That it is a challenging grape is common knowledge. It’s a moody fruit that needs special care and conditions in the vineyards and to be stroked in the cellar. Many winemakers stand in awe of it. Some won’t touch it, because they’re scared of it.
That’s why Finlayson says it’s like opera. “If you appreciate opera you will appreciate the analogy to Pinot Noir. Like opera, it takes intense preparation to put on a performance. Like opera, so much depends on who and what you have to work with. And like opera, if the result is indifferent the audience will walk away. But if you get it right, if you achieve that high, perfect note that turns your skin to gooseflesh, everyone stands up and applauds.”
In 1989, Peter Finlayson won the coveted Diners Club Winemaker of the Year award for his 1986 Pinot Noir, produced at that time for the Hamilton Russell Vineyards where he worked – the Diners Club accolade is as much applause for the competition’s winning winemaker as it is for the wine, if not more so. (Success in wine runs in the family, with Peter’s brother, Walter Finlayson of Glen Carlou, having won the first two Diners Club awards presented in 1981 and 1982).
I was interested when I saw in a recently published glossary of Hamilton Russell wines, that they had highlighted the award without mentioning the winemaker. This could be pique, or perhaps simply hard-nosed protective business practice – the year after his triumph, Finlayson quit Hamilton Russell Vineyards to set up his own wine farm and cellar next door in partnership with Paul Bouchard of the well-known Burgundy wine-shipping family.
The award was a turning point. Paul Bouchard, who had been one of the Pinot judges for Diners Club, invited Finlayson to France for a chat after the prize-giving, offering investment participation to set up their new vineyard in the Hemel en Aarde Valley. So the partnership was established, and it’s been 10 good years for them – especially for their production of Pinot Noir, in which Finlayson has worked tirelessly at improving quality.
Impressive results to date have included a 5 Star rating in Platter for Bouchard Finlayson’s 1997 Galpin Peak (named after the vineyard nestling at the foot of the Galpin Peak behind the winery), followed by 4¡ Stars for the 1998. But for Finlayson and many of his fans, the operatic high note in tenor and soprano is undoubtedly the “Tete de Cuvée” – carefully selected from the most outstanding barrel or barrels from the best years. Outstanding wines.
The strict assessment of quality yielded only 20 cases of Bouchard Finlayson Tete de Cuvée in 1996, 120 cases and 300 magnums in 1997. The ’97 was one of only three South African wines to win a gold medal at the London Wine Challenge this year, reports Finlayson.
I asked him how the Pinot Noirs he now makes compare with his Diners Club award-winning ’86. “I have a few bottles of that 1986 left, and it’s still good. But you cannot compare it with what we are doing now. The local wine industry at that time got landed with a clone that was off-track. It was not a true Burgundian clone – it came from Switzerland and leaned more towards what is produced in the Champagne. I can remember adding stalks to the grapes to enhance the tannin…”
“When we planted our first vineyards here at Bouchard Finlayson we were fortunate in being able to obtain new Burgundian clones which produce the much more fragrant nose and flavour that is associated with true Burgundy wine. We were also able to carry out some significant improvements in the vineyards and are now definitely on track here in every way… We plant more closely, which provides greater leaf surface per hectare, with the consequent stress between vines, which promotes more fruit intensity – and all that is needed in the cellar is a careful nursing through every process.”
Similar quality progress has been achieved with the other Burgundian star – Chardonnay. Bouchard Finlayson produces three labels: the flagship Missionvale, the ever-popular Kaaimansgat (grapes from the Villiersdorp farm of that name which Bouchard Finlayson buys exclusively), and the Sans Barrique (un-oaked), which Peter had contemplated discontinuing until restaurants protested. The WINE tasting panel regularly gives good reviews to the Missionvale and Kaaimansgat Chardonnays, in particular, and Platter 2000 gives all three 4 Stars plus.
Peter Finlayson, rangy, bearded and with a laconic sense of humour, attributes his success, in the first instance, to a choice of terroir – the cool hinterland of Walker Bay – that is particularly suitable for both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. (A crisp, flinty Sauvignon Blanc and an attractive blend (Blanc de Mer) follow this array of big wines at a respectful distance).
This from a man who graduated from Stellenbosch University with a degree in oenology and viticulture, spent a year at Germany’s famous Geisenheim wine college and returned to make wine at what was then the family farm, Hartenberg – he later moved to Boschendal, and then spent 11 years at Hamilton Russell Vineyards before establishing his own business next door.
Finlayson has enjoyed his success, but says: “Success doesn’t mean you can relax. It’s a tough business and it’s going to get tougher. You live on the edge and it concentrates your mind. You are ever aware of the need to improve the quality of your wine – the only passport to future success.”
