Tesselaarsdal Pinot Noir 2019
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Robert
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A particularly bright, tight and pure Pinot noir with marked elegance. Clean and lifted wild red fruit and sour cherry aromas introduce a long, gentle palate with a salty minerality. This is a graceful and age-worthy wine with an almost crystalline purity.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A well-meshed, medium-bodied red, with a zesty orange peel edge to the pureed raspberry, spice box and loamy earth notes. It's bright and expressive, with a touch of crisp tannins firming the finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale ruby with a slight watery edge, the 2019 Pinot Noir offers aromas of wild strawberry with tones of tart cherry, cranberry and a soft herbal note, similar to laurel and sage. Medium-bodied and with 13% alcohol, the wine is bright with mouthwatering acidity and flavors of red cherry skin, rhubarb and subtle oak spices that present themselves along with a delicate, underlying herbaceous character. It ends with a lingering finish. The wine was raised in 228-liter French oak barrels for almost 10 months before being bottled.
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Wine Enthusiast
Just ripe red cherry and raspberry flavors waft from the glass of this vibrant pour, while a touch of cola spice adds depth in the background. The palate is light and fruit-forward, with pronounced acidity that yields a lively, refreshing sip that remains clean and bright through the medium-length close.
Other Vintages
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James
Suckling
Berene Sauls has exceeded all expectations with Tesselaarsdal. In more than one respect, Tesselaarsdaal is a breakthrough. Formerly employed by Hamilton Russell Estates and mentored by Anthony Hamilton Russell, not only is the first wine project for Berene, but importantly it is the first wine project wholly-owned by a member of a “previously disadvantaged community” in the Hemel-en-Aarde area and, indeed, the Overstrand. The wine is named after the historic rural hamlet Tesselaarsdal, not far from Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge, where Berene was born. It was at Tesselaarsdal where Berene’s ancestors once lived as freed slaves on land bequeathed to them in 1810 by former East India Company Settler, Johannes Tesselaar. The naming of her first wine appropriately honors her roots. Tesselaarsdal Pinot Noir and Chardonnay continue the legacy of the Sauls and the Tesselaarsdal farm.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
With an important wine renaissance in full swing, impressive red and white bargains abound in South Africa. The country has a particularly long and rich history with winemaking, especially considering its status as part of the “New World.” In the mid-17th century, the lusciously sweet dessert wines of Constantia were highly prized by the European aristocracy. Since then, the South African wine industry has experienced some setbacks due to the phylloxera infestation of the late 1800s and political difficulties throughout the following century.
Today, however, South Africa is increasingly responsible for high-demand, high-quality wines—a blessing to put the country back on the international wine map. Wine production is mainly situated around Cape Town, where the climate is generally warm to hot. But the Benguela Current from Antarctica provides brisk ocean breezes necessary for steady ripening of grapes. Similarly, cooler, high-elevation vineyard sites throughout South Africa offer similar, favorable growing conditions.
South Africa’s wine zones are divided into region, then smaller districts and finally wards, but the country’s wine styles are differentiated more by grape variety than by region. Pinotage, a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault, is the country’s “signature” grape, responsible for red-fruit-driven, spicy, earthy reds. When Pinotage is blended with other red varieties, like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah or Pinot Noir (all commonly vinified alone as well), it is often labeled as a “Cape Blend.” Chenin Blanc (locally known as “Steen”) dominates white wine production, with Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc following close behind.