Vinum Gamay Noir

French charcuterie such as patés, terrines, rillettes and saucisson sec and with white-rinded cheeses such as Brie and Camembert.

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 fruit for this wine comes from 2 vineyards, both south-east facing and on the Polkadraai hills. The young parcel, our maiden harvest from our own vines plated in pure, crunchy granite soils, contributing the majority of the fruit. The second parcel was planted in 1999, in profoundly granitic soils, and these grapes we pick a bit later, for full fruited exuberance. Both these vineyards benefit greatly from the cooling South-Easter Ocean breezes in the summer time.

The wine was then transferred to 300L French oak barrels for malolactic fermentation and maturation. Barrel maturation lasted 10 months and no new oak was used, true to our philosophy to always allow the wine to exhibit freshness, while adding texture and complexity.

The grapes were harvested by hand in the early morning and, once at the cellar, were manually sorted to ensure only the best bunches were selected, then destemmed, but not crushed. The whole berries were transferred to a 7000L oak fermenter for carbonic maceration, using wild yeast only. This technique lifts the fruit and creates intensity, while remaining fresh and sprightly. We employed very light extraction, with the focus on creating a lithe, supple texture. This complements the expressive fruit profile, while retaining depth and persistence. After the whole berry fermentation, the pomace was pressed in our basket press.