Winery · Walker Bay

Hemel-en-Aarde Pinot Noir

Name: Hemel-en-Aarde Pinot Noir
Address: Walker Bay, ZA

South Africa's Pinot capital: Hemel-en-Aarde Valley's Bokkeveld shale and ocean spray create salty, earthy Pinot Noir with bergamot spice—Burgundy of the South Atlantic.

What to do there

TourHemel-en-Aarde Pinot NoirIn 1975, Tim Hamilton Russell — a Johannesburg ad executive with no farming background — paid ZAR 58,000 for 170 hectares of enclosed mountain valley and planted Pinot Noir where experts said the "heartbreak grape" would never survive. He was right. The Bokkeveld shale soils here have the same clay content as the Côte d'Or — and Hamilton Russell Chardonnay now appears on 30 Michelin-starred restaurant lists in France. You'll drink it looking at the mountains that inspired the name: Heaven on Earth.

Wineries nearby

Winery · Hemel-en-Aarde Hamilton Russell Vineyards Tim Hamilton-Russell's 1975 pioneering estate in Hemel-en-Aarde sits 1.5km from the Atlantic Ocean — 22 hectares of Pinot Noir and 30 of Chardonnay on clay-rich soils shaped by cooling maritime breezes.
Winery · Hermanus Hamilton Russell: Burgundy's African Rival Cool-climate Pinot pioneer: Tim Hamilton Russell spent 1975-1994 perfecting 52 hectares of iron-rich terroir in Hemel-en-Aarde to rival Burgundy.
Winery · Elgin Paul Cluver Forest Amphitheatre Paul Cluver pioneered Elgin's cool-climate wines in 1986 with Riesling; today the 4th-generation winery sits in a UNESCO Biosphere, producing benchmark Pinot Noirs from a forest amphitheatre overlook.