Bouchard Finlayson, Hemel-en-Aarde Valley

THE PRICE of over R1000 a bottle puts Bouchard Finlayson’s flagship Pinot Noir from the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley into the realm of South Africa’s luxury wines, although for less than half that you can get the same vintage of their Galpin Peak. In fact it wasn’t that long ago that the “cameo selection” Tête de Cuvée also carried the name Galpin Peak on the label. There were only six barrels selected for what the winemakers term their very best, and certainly the judges at the 2022 International Wine Challenge in the UK were impressed.

The week after the conveners of the competition named the 2020 Tête de Cuvée among their gold medallists came the news that it had been awarded the SA Red Wine Trophy, with Neil Ellis achieving the SA White Wine Trophy for their 2020 Whitehall Chardonnay (Stellenbosch cellar, Elgin grapes). The Neil Ellis was up against five other Chardonnays and a Sauvignon Blanc, whereas the only Cape Pinot to achieve gold edged out one of the Top 10 SA Cabernets, one of the country’s Top 10 red blends and a Shiraz, the 2018 Family Reserve from Kleine Zalze in Stellenbosch, which on the same day was honoured as the top-scoring South African entry at Mundus Vini in Germany.

How about that! At the 2021 IWC it was the 2020 Lothian Pinot Noir that took the SA red wine honours.