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Storm

It has been a few years since I last visited Hannes Storm. We first met when he was head winemaker at Hamilton Russell and readers might recognise the name from the Santa Barbara winery of the same name, run by his brother Ernst. Hannes Storm established his own bijou winery with the 2012 vintage, and I have always admired his take on Pinot Noir, arguably the closest in style to the Côte d’Or. This is a small portfolio: three Pinots (Vrede on shale soil, Ignis on decomposed granite and Ridge on clay-rich Bokkeveld shale) and two Chardonnays (Vrede and Ridge, both on clay-rich Bokkeveld shale with slightly different orientations). “Vrede tends to have more floral perfume,” he tells me. “I used around 15% whole bunches in 2020. If I go higher than 20%, then I begin to mask the terroir. I did two pigeages each day. The 2020 vintage is close to the 2018 but with more structure.” These are wonderful expressions of the two varieties from a winemaker that has that magic touch. Quantities are limited with just 10 hectares to his name, but Storm insists that his priority is continuity. “I don’t want to grow. I don’t want to change the business model,” he tells me. Small is beautiful.

From Growing Up ‘n Getting Wiser: South Africa in 2022 (Sep 2022) by Neal Martin

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2021 Chardonnay Vrede

Release Price: $60

Color: White

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