Organic Freedom Pinot Noir

Ideal with duck and other game birds, casseroles or, of course, stews like beef bourguignon.

Founded in 1998 by Alex Dale, Radford Dale set about the Cape in search of exciting vineyard parcels for their chosen specialist varietals. Today, they have two producing wineries. The first is located in Stellenbosch, predominantly focused on sourcing maritime influenced parcels around the Helderberg and Polkadraai. Here, they produce the cult, single vineyard wines of Renaissance Chenin Blanc and Frankenstein Pinotage, and the Radford Dale Vinum range; a set of six wines that consistently overdeliver on style to price. The 2022 vintage marked the maiden release from their own vineyards purchased in Elgin under Radford Dale Organic, with the release of four single varietal Estate wines, the only organic certified vineyards in the region. More recently, they have co-founded South Africa’s first Organic Wine Association. They continue to reintroduce Gamay Noir to the Cape, establishing the first new plantings for some 20 years. It’s a varietal geared up to thrive in warm conditions, and on granite soils. Stylistically, Gamay also embodies Radford Dale’s championing of elegant, refreshing red wines.

The grapes come from 5 different Organically-certified Pinot Noir blocks from our Estate in Elgin, with the first planted in 2008 and the most recent in 2015, consisting of Dijon clones 115, 667 & 777. Although the 2022 winter weather didn't align with long-term averages, it still provided ample cold accumulation and rainfall, surpassing the needs of the vineyard. Budding and dormancy break was even and benefited from slightly warmer spring temperatures and low precipitation. Grapes had a good véraison and colour formation was remarkably even and earlier than the previous season. Dry conditions persisted until late February, ensuring good grape potential and ripening however, the harvest came to a sudden stop with unusual rain in late February and March, so we had to be patient to bring in blocks at optimal levels

Only 10% new barrels were used, in support of the lovely fruit concentration achieved in the vineyard. The maturation of the wine, on the lees, lasted for almost 12 months before we assembled the barrels and then bottled the wine.

The grapes were all hand-picked at dawn to capture freshness and acidity while retaining elegance in the flavour expression. The bunches were brought into our Organic cellar for hand-sorting. Whole berry fermentation took place in open-top fermenters, resulting in a wonderfully perfumed fruit expression. By using only our hands to punch down the caps, only the finest tannin was extracted during the 15 day maceration. After fermentation, the skins were then basket-pressed and the wine was transferred directly to a selection of mainly 3rd and 4th fill barrels.