Mabalel Pinot Noir

Pairs well with either a delicate, poached salmon or a rich, braised duck breast.

Mabalel is named after a poem by the legendary South African polymath Eugene Marais, which tells the story of a local chieftain’s daughter of the same name who was ambushed while fetching water from the Limpopo river by the crocodile, Lalele. The vineyard is planted on ‘Kaaimansgat’ farm - meaning Crocodile’s lair - and a river flows past the vineyard. The site is 700m high and surrounded by dramatic mountains, with peaks that are are often snow-capped in winter.

The wine was then transferred to barrel (20% new) where it remained for 11 months before bottling.

Fermented using only native yeasts and with a far lower portion of the fruit kept as whole clusters (10%) than the other Crystallum cuvées. The total time in tank was 29 days with a 14 day post-fermentation maceration.

Crystallum is a family-run and privately-owned winery based in the Walker Bay region of South Africa. Brothers Andrew and Peter-Allan are the third generation of Finlayson winemakers and sons of the man who pioneered Pinot Noir winemaking in the Hemel-en-Aarde region. Andrew is an architect by training and Peter-Allan a student of philosophy and economics but it didn’t take long for the lure of wine to take effect with Andrew drawn to the vineyards and Peter-Allan to the cellar. The company was founded in 2007 when it produced just over four thousand bottles of Sauvignon Blanc. The following vintage saw the introduction of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and Crystallum now produces these Burgundian varieties exclusively making up its collection with multi-vineyard blends and single-vineyard wines.