Hamilton Russell Vineyards: producer profile

Hamilton Russell Vineyards is one of South Africa’s iconic wine estates. Located in the relatively cool, maritime-influenced Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, close to the old fishing village of Hermanus, it is one of the leading producers of Burgundian-styled wines in the Southern Hemisphere.

The 2020 vintage was the estate’s 40th. Since taking over in 1994, Anthony Hamilton Russell and wife Olive have propelled their wine farm into the top echelons, as a source of exemplary Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Hamilton Russell wines from these varieties are far removed from many of those coming from Chile, New Zealand, the US and Australia, showing more of a stylistic similarity to the terroir-driven wines of the Côte d’Or. Bold, ripe, fruit flavours are less pronounced, with a greater emphasis on structure and allowing both the vineyard and vintage character to come through.

At a portfolio tasting in March with UK importer Mentzendorff, Anthony explained that his objective is ‘for the wines to be a reflection of the vintage’. They have depth and complexity, layers of flavour, subtle nuances and the ability to age for at least a decade. Much of this is down to exceptional estate vineyards combined with the Hamilton Russells’ pursuit of excellence, a sympathetic approach to winemaking, and an adherence to organic and biodynamic principles.

Hemel-en-Aarde pioneers

Anthony’s father, Tim, first planted the vineyards in 1976, after purchasing 172ha of land close to the ocean in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, which stretches from within 1,500m of the ocean to the top of the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge. Today 52ha are planted under vine with the remaining 120ha covered by fynbos.

Given the predominance of muscular red wines in the Western Cape at that time, his decision to focus on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay was groundbreaking. Ultimately, he was vindicated with a number of top Western Cape cool-climate producers following suit, such as Newton Johnson, Creation, Ataraxia, Bouchard Finlayson and Storm.

Since taking over from his father, Anthony has focussed on understanding the individual, varied plots on the estate. The soils of Hemel-en-Aarde are a combination of Table Mountain sandstone and Bokkeveld shale. Anthony notes that the firm, youthfully austere style of both his Pinot Noir and Chardonnay is ‘principally a function of extremely iron-rich, clay-rich, shale-derived soils’.

It was these structured Chardonnays that first put Hamilton Russell on the map; the first release was in 1981 and today 21 parcels are vinified separately. Pinot Noir is garnering at least as much interest, and boundaries are also being pushed with white blends from sandstone soils (Ashbourne) and elegant Pinotages that show what this variety is capable of.

The estate’s reputation has been high for many years but, following the arrival in 2014 of winemaker Emul Ross, quality has been elevated to new levels. Ross, former assistant winemaker at Cape Chamonix in Franschhoek, ensured that Hamilton Russell’s farming became entirely organic. Anthony asserted: ‘Our objective is to emphasise terroir, and promoting biodiversity and soil health is vital to produce the best possible wines.’

Vintage character

Unlike many Burgundian estates, Hamilton Russell aims to let the character of each vintage show through in the wines. This was demonstrated at a vertical tasting in early March comparing four Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vintages from 2015 to 2018.

The Pinot Noir, particularly, confirmed this aim. Anthony likens them to different children from the same parents – ‘the wines have a perceivable family resemblance – a common genetic thread – but they also have different personalities as a result of the different vintages’.

Under Ross, Pinot Noir quality has increased. The style is very Burgundian, with firm tannins, gravelly mineral flavours and restrained red-berry fruit. Certain vintages could easily be mistaken for Premier Cru Gévrey-Chambertin.

In the Chardonnay, although different vintages show variations in weight, alcohol and fruit character, the Hemel-en-Aarde terroir results in a focused yet concentrated style emphasising structure and power rather than overt ripeness. Oak is used in a supporting role, never taking the lead.

The 2015 vintage, a sumptuous, warm, early and low-yielding year, is marked by fleshy fruit from a growing season where full phenolic ripeness was achieved at higher potential alcohol levels. This resulted in Pinot Noirs with more of a New World feel and Chardonnays with a more overt and tropical fruit character.

By contrast, 2016 was another low-yielding vintage but lower in alcohol, and undoubtedly more European in style, that in the Pinot Noirs promoted more structure and an appealing rusticity to both tannin and finished wines, and emphasising more floral notes and stony minerality in the Chardonnays.

2017 is a fresher, lighter year with phenolic ripeness occurring at lower alcohol levels giving cool retrained wines, more delicate wines with less concentration of flavour, while 2018 is a return to Burgundy – the Chardonnay akin to a youthful Corton-Charlemagne, holding great promise for the future and the Pinot Noir with a definite hint of Gevrey-Chambertin.

Hamilton Russell Vineyards: a timeline

1975 Tim Hamilton Russell buys 172ha of land in Hemel-en-Aarde Valley

1981 First vintage

1991 Anthony Hamilton Russell takes over from his father, establishing Hamilton Russell Vineyards as an estate, focusing only on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay

1994 Anthony Hamilton Russell completes purchase of estate, conducting soil mapping on 52ha

1994 Creation of separate Southern Right label; aim is ageworthy Pinotage

1996 Creation of separate, adjoining 64ha estate for Ashbourne

2001 First release of Ashbourne

2005 448ha estate set up for Southern Right, adjacent to Hamilton Russell Vineyards

2006 Hemel-en-Aarde Valley designated as a Wine of Origin (appellation)

2009 New winery built for Southern Right

2014 Hannes Storm leaves and Emul Ross joins Hamilton Russell Vineyards as winemaker

2017 Ashbourne Pinotage-Cinsault produced from Swartland

Fast facts

Owners Anthony and Olive Hamilton Russell

Appellation/Wine of Origin Hemel-en-Aarde Valley

Total estate area Hamilton Russell Vineyards: 172ha (with 52ha under vine); Southern Right: 448ha; Ashbourne: 64ha

Number of wines 9

Although the estate’s objective is to reflect the vintage, in 2019 this was taken to a new, undesirable, level. Fire swept through certain blocks with 84% of the estate Pinot Noir fruit subsequently rejected. Anthony was still able to produce a 2019, purchasing grapes from producers in other parts of the valley.

With 37% of fruit coming from the lighter red-berry style of Upper Hemel-en-Aarde, 47% from the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge and 16% from Hemel-en-Aarde, this is still a fine wine but noticeably more fruit-driven and forward than the ‘classic’ estate Pinot Noir. To highlight the difference to the consumer, the wine is labelled Hamilton Russell, not the usual Hamilton Russell Vineyards, which signifies wines made from estate fruit.

Fortunately, the damage to Chardonnay blocks was much less severe but additional work was still required during harvest: small hand-harvesting crates were only half filled, no destemming was carried out and all fruit was whole-bunch pressed. No solids were fermented with the juice, resulting in a 2019 estate Chardonnay of great purity.

Learning from these enforced changes, Hamilton Russell now plans up to 80% whole-bunch pressing in future vintages, but with more fermentation of solids than 2019.

Southern Right & Ashbourne

In addition to Hamilton Russell Vineyards, Anthony and Olive are also behind two other labels. Southern Right was created in 1994, prior to the establishment of a 448ha estate on the western edge of the Hamilton Russell Vineyards property in 2005. The focus here is on two wines – Pinotage and Sauvignon Blanc. Anthony says his intention is to ‘redefine South Africa’s unique variety of Pinotage with a more classically styled wine, and to produce a highly individual Sauvignon Blanc, with marked minerality and complexity’.

Ashbourne, named after Anthony’s great-great-grandfather Lord Ashbourne (Lord Chancellor of Ireland in the 1880s), is a separate 64ha estate adjacent to the eastern edge of Hamilton Russell Vineyards. The first vintage of Ashbourne Pinotage was released in 2001, and the quality of this wine, produced on clay-rich soil, shows the way forward for this variety. The Sandstone white blend is a delicious amalgam of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Chardonnay, from quartzitic sandstone soil, fermented using natural yeast in amphorae and ceramic eggs.

Hamilton Russell is one of the New World’s leading producers of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Stylistically closer to Burgundy and Oregon, these are classical, intellectual, long-lived wines deserving a place in every cellar. However, these are also wines designed to be drunk and enjoyed. A view with which most fans will concur.

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