Pinot Noir

Beef, Veal, Poultry, Game (deer, venison)

Under the towering Klein River mountains, Thamnus Wines is a unique terroir with few surrounding vineyards. The cool-climate conditions and old soils produce an elegant, more old-world style of wine, expressed well in the Burgundian grape varieties. Our Chardonnay is chiselled in style with lime, almond and flinty notes. The Pinot Noir is generally lighter in colour, but shows darker fruit, firm tannins and more savoury notes. Both wines offer 5 years or more of ageing potential. Multiple clones of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay across 10 ha of vineyards are naturally farmed, vine by vine. We utilize our sheep in the vineyards during certain periods of the season as part of a regenerative agriculture approach; our sheep are rotated throughout the vineyard, grazing and suppressing weeds and allowing cover crops, later the vineyards, to proliferate. We also offer incredible free-range, naturally farmed lamb, fine olive oil and fynbos honey.

Exceptional... Moderate weather throughout the season, and specifically during harvest time, resulted in grapes ripening slower, while developing exceptional colour and flavour. Hence good colour extraction, low pH levels and high natural acidity. The Pinot Noir was harvested on the 15th of February 2021. Our Pinot Noir block consists of 3 clones, PN115, PN777 and PN113.

The Pinot Noir was matured in 32% new French oak for 10 months then racked to a stainless-steel tank to settle for a further 6 months prior to bottling.

30% of the grapes were fermented whole bunch in 1-ton fermenters with regular punch down to extract colour and fine grainy tannins. After fermentation the grapes were pressed and sent to barrel for malolactic fermentation which started naturally.