International Wine Challenge Trophy Winner: ‘Best South African Red Wine’.

This wine performs magic tricks! We were definitely wearing socks when we poured it into our glass, but as soon as we had tasted it, they were gone! Ta dah! It’s one of those wines that you barely need to drink, there is so much going on with the aromas alone that it starts to quench your thirst (and your curiosity) before you have even taken a sip. It is made by Richard Kershaw MW, who makes wines under an eponymous label too, which go for very high prices and are considered among the best Pinot Noirs (and Chardonnays) in The Cape, and as soon as we put this to our nose, we recognised his signature (soaring aromatics, perfectly-judged reduction, haunting Pinot Noir DNA in every flavour molecule), yet this wine is a fraction of the cost of his own-label wines. We’re not saying this wine is cheap at £30.00 a bottle, but if you want to find a Pinot Noir at this quality level from anywhere in the world for less, we wish you well in your endeavours. It tastes like a Chambolle-Musigny that has been backpacking around The Cape. Aromas of wild strawberry and rosehip attest to the whole bunch fermentation, while pink peppercorns and charred bacon fat give it a savoury dimension. The palate is pulsating with energy and lively fruit, a wine that has its own internal momentum, fleshing out every corner of the palate with beautiful Pinot Noir flavours. An absolute knockout! 13.5% alc. Drink now-2030.

Press reviews:

International Wine Challenge: “Lovely, floral and appealing with sweet, bright and attractive perfumed notes of black chewy plum. Linear with good structure and a real sense of freshness. Succulent palate with well-integrated tannins and a very persistent finish.” 95 points and Trophy Winner ‘ Best South African Red Wine’.

JancisRobinson.com (Tamlyn Currin): “This wine had my hands hovering over the keyboard, not quite sure how to describe it! A slam-dunk Pinot in a blind tasting, and yet it's so different, so unusual. The fruit is full and sweet but more than anything else is a distinctive soft-steeped honeybush-tea character, giving it an almost hauntingly beautiful and achingly delicate flavour profile; sweetness that is origami-folded, dry-pressed between sepia pages brushed with watercolour impressions of damson and old cherry, cacao husk and fynbos herbs, and the smell of resin in the air on a hot, still day. Even the tannins feel like chalk pastels. I would never, ever have guessed this wine was 14%. It is wonderful. Distinctive, of its place, of its grape. Drink now-2028.” 17 points

Tim Atkin MW: “Using the considerable talents of consultant Richard Kershaw MW, this Elgin Pinot Noir has some stony reduction on the nose, flavours of goji berry, plum and smoky bacon and subtle, savoury tobacco leaf tannins. Drink now-2026.” 90 points