Pinot Noir, Ridge, Hemel en Aarde, 2023
Ridge 2023 is a wilder, blue and purple fruited Pinot, offering notes of pine and brambles, with very detailed citrus and floral accents. Each year it seems to grow in refinement, the 2023 offering the usual fresh core of acidity but this time surrounded by fleshier, more open berried fruits compared to previous years. Superb. The highest site in the range at 330m in the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge, Ridge Pinot benefits from a cool south easterly wind. Its easterly exposition means a longer hang time and a tighter, mineral feel. Aged for a year in 25% new French oak.
critic reviews
In the bottle with a blue wax capsule, the Storm 2023 Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge Pinot Noir opens with floral notes and redcurrant, showing a tangy freshness and almost carbonic brightness in this rain-influenced vintage. There is a slight fermentation-derived tingle, while the palate feels lean and transparent. Fermented with 10% whole-bunch fruit, the wine matures in French oak for 12 months, with 26% new oak, followed by 12 months in bottle before release. The vineyard sits at 330 meters in elevation on steep east/southeast-facing slopes rooted in stony clay-rich Bokkeveld shale that preserves acidity and aromatic lift in this cool maritime climate. Production is 6,900 bottles, and the first vintage was made in 2015. I recommend a shorter drinking window for this vintage.
The 2023 Pinot Noir Ridge comes from a cooler southeast-facing slope and at 200m higher than the Vrede, it is more exposed to the wind. The vines here are planted at 8,000 per hectare, double the other vineyards. This has a little more flamboyance on the nose, though still quite classic and Burgundian in style, with raspberry and wild strawberry fruit, wild hedgerow and a hint of blood orange. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red berry fruit, dark cherry and raspberry, a keen thread of acidity and it feels very cohesive on the finish. There is not enormous length, but there is just a touch of spice that adds a little more length than the Vrede or Ignis cuvées.