South African Pinot: Bouchard Finlayson’s Galpin Peak from 2004 to 2017

South Africa recently won the Rugby World Cup in Japan and it didn’t take long for Peter Finlayson, founder of Bouchard Finlayson, to reel off a sporting analogy during his recent Pinot masterclass in London.

‘Pinot Noir is like a rugby ball,’ he says. ‘You’re not sure where it’s going to bounce.’

Scroll down for the Galpin Peak 2004 to 2017 tasting notes and scores

Finlayson, a laconic and softly-spoken giant of a man, lives and breathes Pinot Noir; he pioneered the variety in Hemel-en-Aarde, near Hermanus in the Western Cape, when he was tasked by Timothy Hamilton-Russell with establishing the valley’s first winery in the 1980s.

In 1989 he pulled together investment to found his own winery which, in its early days, was a collaboration between himself and Paul Bouchard from Burgundian négociant Bouchard Aîné & Fils. Today it is owned by the Red Carnation hotel group.

This collaboration with Paul Bouchard speaks volumes about where Finlayson’s winemaking heart sits and how passionate he is about Pinot Noir. At points during the tasting he gets misty-eyed, emotional even, when speaking about the grape.

He extols the un-put-down-able virtues of the variety – ‘Pinot calls you back to the glass,’ as he puts it – and has advice for young wannabee Pinot producers, wrought out of decades of experience working with the grape. ‘One of the contradictions of Pinot Noir is that less is more,’ he says. ‘Newcomers might try to get more extraction and often it doesn’t work.’

Galpin Peak

Finlayson’s finest expression of Pinot is in Bouchard Finlayson’s flagship wine Galpin Peak and it’s this wine he presents with such passion during a vertical tasting of wines from 2004 to the current 2017 vintage, with a few gaps inbetween.

Fruit for Galpin Peak comes from the estate’s own vineyards, where Finlayson farms a low but intense crop planted on arable land that, in his own words, is ‘suitable for sheep, maize and baboons’.

The soils here are shale (Bokkeveld) and clay, which offer good drainage following seasonal downpours but also retain water to make available to the vines throughout the growing season.

Galpin Peak is a pure expression of Pinot and leans heavily on the Burgundian style, something which Finlayson doesn’t shy away from.

‘Our wines have been sold in Beaune for many years – that’s an enormous compliment,’ he says. There’s an ‘old world’ thread running right through the collection and it’s refreshing to find such precision and attention to detail in each glass.

To round off the tasting, guests are given the opportunity to comment on their favourite wine.

Peter is the last to respond: ‘There’s too much to get excited about here,’ he responds drolly before breaking into a huge smile, summing up his passion perfectly.

See the Galpin Peak 2004 to 2017 tasting notes and scores

You may also like

New wave South Africa: Top wines to try from exciting producers

Great wines from old vines in South Africa