When you get invited to a vertical Pinot Noir tasting hosted by Jan Boland Coetzee, you drop everything and go.  No month-end deadlines, demanding bank managers or red tape ensconced civil servants would hold us away from this.

The old Vriesenhof Farm holds many charms, the vineyards, charming homestead and ages-old oak trees set against the magnificent Stellenbosch mountains exude a strange mystique the moment you set foot on the farm.  It is as if ancient magic happens there.

The Pinot Noir tasting was illuminating: We tasted the first Pinot Noir Jan made in 1994 (when he “still thought he was making Cabernet Sauvignon”) to the more recent 2000 and the (yet unreleased) 2013.  This, in 3 glasses, was the evolution of Vriesenhof’s Pinot Noir.

Vriesenhof and the current winemaker, Nicky Claasens, put me on to a nerdy clonal streak when he poured a glass of the 777 clone for me at the Vineyard Hotel’s Pinot Noir festival many moons (and bottles) ago.  Pigtails, braces and glasses…nerdy love for the pure juice in the glass.
The rest of the vertical extended from 2003 to 2013, involved individual clones (115 and 777) and a few CWG incarnations thrown in as well.  Our favourites:  The 2009 (still unreleased), 2011 and 2013 (also not released).

All these wines showed a certain fruit purity that you can only get from years of proper viticulture and cellar experience.  Nicky brings a lighter, more modern touch to his Pinot’s and they are rewarding him by showing immence class – purity, slight savouriness, acidity that provides just the right balance.  Expect bright red and dark, brooding cherry, very gentle spicy notes and gorgeous acidity.  Expect a great wine.
Stellenbosch can indeed produce a good Pinot Noir…at Vriesenhof.
www.vriesenhof.co.za