A podium finish from a spectacular vintage
It has been a very difficult few years for the South African wine industry, with restrictions on exports during the pandemic and a total ban on alcohol sales within South Africa from March 2020 until February 2021. Yet through all this the vines have thrived - after almost a decade of drought, the three years since 2019 have seen adequate rainfall and generally cooler temperatures across the Cape, a blessed relief for parched vines and citizens alike.
Hamilton Russell Vineyards has been nestled at the south-westernmost end of the Hemel-en-Aarde valley since 1975, when Tim Hamilton Russell bought a 170-hectare property overlooking the seaside town of Hermanus and began experimental plantings of vines. His son, Anthony, took over in 1991 and narrowed the focus of the estate to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay: a single bottling of each, produced entirely from their 52 hectares of estate fruit. They have since come to be regarded as the standard-bearer for their region, and one of the finest wine estates in the country.
The 2021 growing season in the Hemel-en-Aarde was one of the coolest on record, with fierce weather driving strong winds through the valley, reducing yields but also limiting disease-pressure; a long, slow ripening-period resulted in an unusually late harvest of exceptional quality. The 2021 Pinot Noir is a Hamilton Russell classic: refined and age-worthy in an understated, Burgundian style - Anthony considers this to be the finest they have yet produced. The 2021 Chardonnay is a very fine-boned, elegant rendition, more 'Chassagne' than 'Meursault', which will drink a little sooner than the Pinot, but shares the same excellent ageing potential. /JH
