Time in a bottle
Wednesday, November 10th, 2010
Two significant events in two days – verticals of Meerlust Rubicon and Hamilton Russell Vineyards’ Pinot Noir – both marking the passing of 30 years.
It was fascinating to participate in the tastings and see the progression or evolution of South African winemaking as depicted by the respective bottlings. Part of my interest in the exercise was to note that nowadays, neither of these producers would be considered revolutionary or ground breakers. Both brands are definitely in the traditional or classic category and can comfortably be considered South African icons. You know exactly what you are getting when you buy a bottle of Meerlust Rubicon or HRV Pinot Noir. Elegant, classically styled, balanced and nuanced, reliable and dependable with impressive local and international track records.
But three decades back these were the upstarts! They were the producers creating major ripples in the industry by swimming upstream and going counter to conventional wine making wisdom. Meerlust’s Nico Myburgh and winemaker Giorgio dalla Cia were considered crazy for blending Cabernet and Merlot with a splash of Cabernet Franc a la Bordeaux. Nowadays Meerlust has developed an enviable reputation for this one wine and current winemaker Chris Williams (who already has a 12 year association with the historic Stellenbosch property) is very conscious of not making any “radical” changes. Interesting to note, then, that the preview of 2010's Rubicon included two percent of Petit Verdot. A tweak or little evolutionary addition to the successful formula…
Anthony Hamilton Russell is a staunch advocate of place over people regarding wine. When his father Tim first planted grapes in the Hemel en Aarde valley near Hermanus the intention wasn’t necessarily to replicate Burgundian practices – but rather to find the best expression of climate and site. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are the two grapes best suited to the property’s soils and HRV have been ruthless in maintaining a streamlined range. Again, three decades ago industry soothsayers shook their heads at the foolhardiness of Tim Hamilton Russell in attempting to make top notch Pinot Noir in an untested area.
As Hannes Myburgh said, “we’re not the ones who have gone out and declared this wine an icon. It’s just happened – and we feel the pressure.” But Myburgh and Williams at Meerlust and Anthony Hamilton Russell and Hannes Storm at HRV are very aware of the weight of expectations and take that responsibility seriously. In this age of enamoration with the “hottest new producer/wine/area/varietal” it’s refreshing to revisit something which doesn’t “alter when it alteration finds”.