Pinot Noir

Roast Pork with herbs and fennel or rack of venison- served medium.

Spring 2019 came early, triggering budburst two weeks earlier than usual. This was largely due to the higher-than-normal temperatures during August and September. Rainfall was lower than usual, but our moisture-retaining clay-rich soils ensured that almost no irrigation was necessary. Dormancy in the winter months wasn’t optimal, which lead to a slightly lower yield, and this effect was intensified by instances of hail just before veraison. But while these factors affected quantity, they mercifully had no effect on quality. We picked slightly earlier than we did for the 2019 vintage, which delivered exquisite acidity levels in the fruit.

After eight months, the meticulously-selected individual components were racked before blending. They were then returned to barrel for a final three months of maturation and integration.

Fruit was harvested across five days between 5 and 13 February. NDVI technology was used throughout the growing season to ensure uniformity of phenolic ripeness in the vineyard. The decision to pick on different dates gave the team time to focus in detail on each section, timing the picking of the two clones very specifically, rather than simply picking each block in series. Low disease pressure in the vineyards assisted spontaneous fermentation in the cellar. To capture the elegance of the fruit, and avoid excessive extraction, the wine spent just 10 days on skins, with a combination of short pump-overs and punch-downs twice per day. Malolactic conversion occurred spontaneously in 300-litre French oak barrels, 25% of which were new. The oak barrels were carefully selected from five leading Burgundian coopers, with a range of toasting levels – mostly light and blonde – adding further complexity to the wine.

Set in a striking amphitheatre formed by the Hottentots-Holland, Groenland and Kogelberg Mountains, the Moya Meaker vineyard – Dijon 667 and 777 heritage clones, planted at a higher density to encourage competition between the vines – is situated on an impressive ridge of ancient Bokkeveld shales. Combined with the cool ocean winds sweeping in off the nearby Atlantic Ocean, this high-altitude location leads to a large diurnal shift between daytime and night-time temperatures. The result? Pinot Noir with bright acidity and higher concentration. The wine is named in honour of former beauty queen Moya Meaker – the mother of David’s South African-born wife, Genevieve Curl – and the Moya Meaker Pinot Noir shows precisely why Elgin’s terroir is ideally suited to this iconic Burgundian grape.