Wine of the Week: 2007 Hamilton Russell Vineyards Pinot Noir

A Pioneering Pinot

Wine of the Week: Hamilton Russell Vineyards' pinot noir is a sophisticated treat from South Africa.

By Elin McCoy | Monday, 08 November 2010 | 09:55

Elin McCoy's Wine of the Week

2007 Hamilton Russell Vineyards Pinot Noir

Price: $40
Region: Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, South Africa
Grape: 100 percent pinot noir
Alcohol: 13.6 percent
Serve: Ideal with salmon and lighter meats such as veal and turkey

Sometimes one wine is enough to show that a region is a serious contender in the New World pinot noir sweepstakes. That's how I feel about Hamilton Russell Vineyards Pinot Noir, which comes from the coastal Hemel-En-Aarde Valley in South Africa's Walker Bay region.

The 2007 vintage is one of the best pinots outside Burgundy that I've tasted. With its complex earthy, spicy aromas and seamless, subtle flavors, it has a Chambolle-Musigny-like finesse and succulence, framed by elegant tannins that will repay several years of aging.

Back in 1975, when proprietor Anthony Hamilton Russell's father bought 170 hectares behind the seaside resort of Hermanus in Walker Bay, he didn't know the spot would make great pinot, though he'd been hunting for the most southerly site in South Africa to make cool-climate wines.

Russell, who took over the estate in 1991, thinks the estate's soils deserve credit for its three-decade long string of expressive, terroir-driven pinot noirs. He's the one who decided to focus on pinot and chardonnay, stopped filtering the wine and started down the path of farming organically and fermenting with native yeasts, all of which seems to have added a new level of intensity to the wines.

The fashion for pinot, pushed to stardom in 2004 by the movie "Sideways," shows no sign of abating. Surely that's partly because this is one of the most flexible food wines, at least when it's balanced like this one and not overtly fruity.

So far, no other pinot from South Africa has impressed me as much as those from Hamilton Russell. But other producers have moved in to Walker Bay and one day it may not be the only top pinot there.

Elin McCoy is a wine and spirits columnist and author of "The Emperor of Wine: The Rise of Robert M. Parker, Jr. and the Reign of American Taste."

Hamilton Russell

Antony Hamilton Russell produces also outstanding Chardonnays. And South Africa produces in general very good wines. Just came back from there, including Hamilton Russel http://schiller-wine.blogspot....frica.html

a guest , November 15, 2010

Last Updated on Monday, 08 November 2010 21:42