On my recent trip to the Cape in March, I paid an important visit to the Gabrielskloof Winery in the Bot River, home to not only the Gabrielskloof Wines but also Peter-Allan Finlayson’s Crystallum wines. 

As a supporter of Peter-Allan’s wines from the very beginning, I’ll never forget his big frame manning the small 1.5 meter long bar top counter at the Wines of South Africa tasting, displaying his 2007 white Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnays, and his 2008 Peter Max and Cuvee Cinema Pinot Noirs from the Walker Bay. I recognised the quality immediately and guided numerous potential importer / agents to his stand to taste with view to finding him an agent and UK importer. Liberty Wines were the lucky fellows in the end.

Fast forward to 2017, and I have just returned from tasting his 8th red vintage of Pinot Noir. Peter-Allan is building a true legacy indeed, just as his father did before him at Bouchard-Finlayson. But I loved reading Crystallum’s philosophy in their own words…

“We seek to produce classic wines in a new world context that reflect a traditional, age-old way of working coupled with the new world vineyards which we source our fruit from. The only varieties that we work with are Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with multi vineyard blends and single vineyard wines making up the collection.” ~ Andrew and Peter-Allan Finlayson, the team behind Crystallum.

The Crystallum Pinot Noirs are fermented in small stainless steel tanks and aged in French oak sourced from a single Burgundian cooper. The barrels are stored in a straw bale cellar and left for circa 16 months before bottling.

Crystallum Mabalel Pinot Noir 2016, Elandskloof, 14 Abv.

This pretty wine shows spicy sappy lift from 10% whole bunch fermentation. The wine is bright, lifted, sweet fruited and attractively sappy showing cranberry, cherry fruits with cedary oak spice and a mineral, gravelly finish. There’s definitely a sweet quince exoticism, that’s quite tantalising, leading you to a super fresh, long, vibrant Pinot Noir finish. 

(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Crystallum Cuvee Cinema Pinot Noir 2016, Hemel-En-Aarde Ridge, 14 Abv.

This is a beauty, made from Pinot clones 115 and 667. Again, like the Mabalel Cuvee, there are wonderful bright fleshy sweet cherry fruits with a thick underlay of wild forest strawberries, red musky perfume, dusty powdery tannins and textured fine grained grip. There is such alluring, elegant concentration and long fleshy finish of blood oranges and pomegranate vibrancy. Very classy indeed. Very impressive.

(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Such a wonderful visit and lunch at Gabrielskloof with Peter-Allan, joined by fellow Zoo Buscuit John Seccombe and Non biscuit Viking, Donovan Rall, who’s own new releases will be reviewed separately in the near future. Thanks chaps!