2013 Chamonix, Reserve Pinot Noir, Franschhoek, South Africa

Chamonix

Founded in 1991 and named after the famed French skiing town, Cape Chamonix has some of the highest-planted vineyards in the Franschhoek wine region. The beautiful vineyards, planted on the mountainside above the valley floor, range from 320 to 597 metres in elevation, at heights where a cooling breeze helps to mitigate the generally warm Franschhoek climate.

Winemaker Gottfried Mocke was born in the Swellendam area and worked in Germany, France and Oregon before returning to his native country. It is fair to say that, after joining Chamonix in 2001, he completely turned around its previously rather ordinary wines and today has built the winery a reputation for producing some of the finest Chardonnay and Pinot Noirs in the country.

The winery currently farms primarily Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinotage, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc. The winery produces a range of wines, some particularly fine examples of a Bordeaux-style blends, as well as a schnapps and fruit for export, but  the success of its wines threatens to eclipse all its other activities.

Franschhoek

Franschhoek wine region lies to the west of Stellenbosch in a fertile valley surrounded by the Drakenstein Mountains. The town of Frankschoek was founded by fleeing French Huguenots in 1688, who brought along their winemaking traditions and vines. Franschhoek's warm, temperate climate is perfectly suited to the production of powerful, saturated red wines and concentrated, fruit-driven white wines. The most prominent grapes in the region are Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Noir.

Today it remains very much a boutique wine region with smallholding producers.

Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir is probably the most frustrating, and at times infuriating, wine grape in the world. However when it is successful, it can produce some of the most sublime wines known to man. This thin-skinned grape which grows in small, tight bunches performs well on well-drained, deepish limestone based subsoils as are found on Burgundy's Côte d'Or.

Pinot Noir is more susceptible than other varieties to over cropping - concentration and varietal character disappear rapidly if yields are excessive and yields as little as 25hl/ha are the norm for some climats of the Côte d`Or.

Because of the thinness of the skins, Pinot Noir wines are lighter in colour, body and tannins. However the best wines have grip, complexity and an intensity of fruit seldom found in wine from other grapes. Young Pinot Noir can smell almost sweet, redolent with freshly crushed raspberries, cherries and redcurrants. When mature, the best wines develop a sensuous, silky mouth feel with the fruit flavours deepening and gamey "sous-bois" nuances emerging.

The best examples are still found in Burgundy, although Pinot Noir`s key role in Champagne should not be forgotten. It is grown throughout the world with notable success in the Carneros and Russian River Valley districts of California, and the Martinborough and Central Otago regions of New Zealand.