Pieter De Waal in Top of the Hill vineyard |
09 March 2019
Oldest Pinotage Vineyard Walk
One Saturday each month in summer winery owner Pieter De Waal
leads an amble upwards through his vines to The Top of The Hill vineyard.
There, under the shade of an old wild fig tree he uncorks and pours a bottle of
the wine made from that old vineyard.
There is now just half a hectare of these 70 year
old bush vines that produce 2 – 2.5 tons a of grapes a year, yielding fewer
than 3,000 bottles.
The Top of The Hill is the world’s oldest Pinotage
vineyard. The wine is aged around 18 months in new French oak barriques and is
the estate’s flagship wine. Two other Pinotages are produced, De Waal Pinotage,
a surprisingly enjoyable quaffable wine and the more serious new oak-aged De
Waal ‘C T De Waal’ Pinotage.
The latter honours Charl Theron de Waal who not only
made the very first Pinotage wine in 1941, but encouraged his father and
grandfather to plant the new variety on the family farm. Unwilling to pull up
any established vines, space was found on an otherwise unwanted flat area of
sandy soil near the top of the hill, above the reservoir. This poor soil turned
out to perfectly suit Pinotage.
Charl Theron De Waal was a lecturer on winemaking at
Elsenburg agricultural college. By 1941
enough Pinotage vines had been propagated to produce a barrel of wine and De
Waal made it at Welgevellen’s experimental winery and in later years at
Elsenburg.
I’d booked for the vineyard walk the previous year
but it was cancelled after Pieter had an accident. This March’s was the last
walk of the summer.
In total eight of us walked with Pieter who took care to
make frequent stops to explain the history of the family and this farm which
dates from 1682.
While the dirt tracks are uneven, the walk was easy
and at the top Pieter had set out chairs under the shade of the tree where
water, and a generous pour of Top of The Hill Pinotage 2015 were waiting.
Back at the winery a cheese platter was waiting with
pours of De Waal’s wines; Young Vines Chenin, Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz and
Merlot. The three Pinotages, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Signal Rock, a
Merlot/Cabernet blend with 14% Pinotage.
As well as tasting these wines at the winery, we
bought the zingy savvie and the following bottles to enjoyed with dinner.
DeWaal Pinotage 2016 12.7% abv
This came as a freebie in a twin box with the Top of
The Hill. The box called it the ‘sexy sister’. What good is a free wine? As it
turned out, very good indeed. It’s a most enjoyable easy drinking wine with red
plum and raspberry flavours and a most friendly alcohol level. From what DeWaal
call younger vines, but at 25-30 years other might call old.
DeWaal ‘C T DeWaal Pinotage 2015 12.41%abv
This really shone at the tasting after the walk,
spicy fresh open and inviting with sweet black plums on the palate, and the
bottle we took back didn’t disappoint with dinner a few nights later,
Vines 40-50 years old, 12 months in 225-litre French
barriques (60% new, 40% second fill)
DeWaal ‘Top of the Hill’ Pinotage 2015 12.6%abv
This is historic in all senses of the meaning, from
the world’s oldest Pinotage vineyard. Only released in February 2018 it would
benefit with more time in bottle. Its relatively low alcohol doesn’t prepare
one for its intensity, or its brooding power. We drank it in the vineyard and
again back at the winery and took a bottle home where it superbly accompanied
roasted lamb shanks. Layers of flavours – plums, mulberry, spices and
underlying typical Pinotage sweetness – backed by fine tannins.
68-year-old vines, aged 18 months in 100% new
225-litre French oak barriques.
DeWaal’s Top of the Hill vineyard walks can be
booked via the website.
...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment