Storm Ridge Pinot Noir 2017
- Region
- South Africa » Western Cape » Walker Bay » WO Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge
- Type
- red still, dry
- Producer
- Vintage
- 2017
- Grapes
- Pinot Noir
- Alcohol
- 13.5
- Sugar
- 3
- Volume
- 750 mL
- Cellar
- not available
This wine is made from 100% Pinot Noir grapes, grown using sustainable agriculture on an east-facing sloping parcel of land with poor, stony soil. The soil contains clay and schist. The grapes are hand-harvested, destemmed, and cold-macerated for 10 days in open vats. They are then fermented using indigenous yeasts, pressed in a traditional wooden vertical press, and matured for 9-11 months in French oak barrels, with around 25% new oak. The wine is neither filtered nor fined, and sulfites are used judiciously.
Ratings
This wine features a slightly restrained yet beautiful and evolving bouquet, capturing an array of red fruits at different stages of ripeness, from sour to ripe to dried. This fruit allure is complemented by notes of red flowers, pencil lead, and meat. On the palate, it's surprisingly fresh and juicy, maintaining neat balance throughout.
Great and stylish Pinot Noir. A bit meaty yet delicate and the same time. Sunflower seeds, smoke, cherry, raw meat, dust and spices. And what a delicious wine. Medium-bodied with medium-high tannin and good acidity. Almost perfectly balanced.
Great and pleasant Pinot Noir from SA, dusty leather, mixed with plume jam, cherry, bloody meat and spices. Still young and not smooth, intense and meaty, with high acidity (which amazes me). Really want to see what will become with this wine in few years, seems like there is huge potential.
About Producer
Hannes Storm is a winemaker from South Africa dedicated to expressing terroirs of WO Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. After 12 vintages of working with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, he discovered two tiny parcels of land with exceptional terroirs and planted them with Pinot Noir in 2008. His first vintage saw the light in 2012, and after 18 months in bottle, the wines were released in August 2014.
His approach - handcraft, small production, careful viticulture, minimal intervention in the cellar.
Now he works with 3 plots:
- Vrede Pinot Noir and Chardonnay - low-vigor, stony, clay-rich Bokkeveld (Buck Veld) shale soil in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley.
- Ignis Pinot Noir - decomposed granite soil in the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley.
- Ridge Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, also from low-vigour, stony, clay-rich Bokkeveld shale soil in the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge.
WO Hemel-en-Aarde Valley is divided into Valley, Upper Valley and Ridge. And it means that Hennes grows Pinot Noir in all 3 appellations of Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. And in fact, as of [2021-09-14 Tue], he is the only winemaker with this sort of achievement.
2019 was a culmination of three years of bone-dry soils. Although vines are drought-tolerant, this year, the stress reached a crescendo. Vines' only purpose is to nurture their offspring - grapes and seeds. And when the vines are stressed, they focus so much energy on so few grapes. Consequently, 2019 is very small in production but very concentrated and potent. Vrede produced only 275 cases, Ignis - 290 cases, and Ridge - 340 (all about Pinot Noir).
Interestingly, before Hennes Storm started own project, he worked as a winemaker in Hamilton Russell Vineyards, another famous winemaker from South Africa.