South Africa 2021

The vineyard takes its name from from the final use for the land before vineyards were planted: to shoot a film about Napoleon. Here, clay and iron rich soils with schist, just 6km from the ocean give plenty of structure: this is an intense Pinot Noir. Notes of pomegranate and a hint of citrus complete the picture on this brilliant wine.

The Peter Max Pinot Noir is the introduction to the estate. It comes from five different plots, from different regions, and its name honours the first growers to sell grapes for the wine (the sources have since changed). It’s lifted and approachable, with lots of pomegranate and blood orange character. Just lovely in 2020.

The latest addition to the range, from a warmer site that was once Sauvignon Blanc, but that since 2017 has been top grafted. This has lovely breadth and texture, and there’s definitely a slight iodine character, as well as white peach fruit, and a hint of stem ginger.

This is from the Vrede vineyard, which is also the source of Hannes Storm’s Pinot of the same name. The palate here has a little more breadth, and there’s incredible definition to the fruit here. Flavours come wave after wave. Brilliant.

Malabel, was added in 2013. This is in the Elandskloof, on a farm that Peter-Allan’s dad started working with in the 1990s. Here, there’s more sand in the soil, and at 700 metres of altitude, it’s a much finer, more elegant wine. The 2020 is suave and cool, and will age beautifully.

The Agnes Chardonnay honours Peter-Allan’s grandmother, who arrived in South Africa at the age of 14, and is a blend of different vineyards, from across the Cape. This year it includes a little fruit from the high altitude Ceres plateau for the first time, and there’s just a little more precision this year, maybe from that fruit. It gets better and better: a bargain.

A spectacular wine that won’t last long, from a Ridge vineyard that used to be Cabernet Franc, but was grafted in 2014. It’s so Burgundian, with lemon oil, leesy complexity, and incredible savoury length. Brilliant.