I imagine the process of growing Pinot Noir is a bit like taming a wild butterfly.

It’s a stunning thing, beautiful to look at, and all you want to do is hold it in your hand and enjoy it. But it’s a wild thing, with wild habits – it needs the right environment, attention, patience and understanding to get it on your side.

Some have called Pinot Noir the Holy Grail of wine. Complex, captivating and almost unreachable, this grape is one of the most difficult and temperamental to farm.

Fortunately for lovers of this elusive wine, there is one place in South Africa where all the right factors combine to produce Pinot Noir. It’s here, in the foothills of the Babylon Toren Mountains, where I stand with Swiss wine-maker Jean-Claude (JC) Martin on his farm – Creation Wines – on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge, just outside the coastal town of Hermanus.

It’s an achingly beautiful afternoon in July and we are perched in a freshly planted vineyard as JC tells me about the challenges, quirks and secrets to growing his award-winning Pinot Noir.

The first secret

“Within the South African context, most places are too warm for Pinot. These grapes are very sensitive to heat,” JC says as we look out over the brown-stalk rows of newly planted vines.

“To achieve an elegant balance between acidity and fruitiness you cannot grow Pinot Noir in a hot place. That’s why our sea breezes are so important. We are only seven or eight kilometres away from the sea, and when the wind comes from the right direction, it cools the area. But it’s also the altitude. We are 325 metres above sea level and that’s important, especially in the evenings when things cool down a lot. The balance between warmer and cooler conditions is good for the fruit and the intensity of the flavours. It has an impact on the expression of flavours in the grapes.”

 I look across the valley and can’t help but notice that the rows of vineyards just look so at home here. As if this is their natural habitat.

“I think overall it is a pretty perfect area for growing grapes,” JC concludes. “But the exciting thing is that you can actually grow Pinot Noir here.”