Published by Jeremy.
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We love Hamitlon Russel in South Africa for their fine Chardonnays, and have always wanted to give one of their Pinot Noirs a try as we had always heard great things.
We stumbled upon a bottle of theirs from Walker Bay, produced in 2019, which had a rather interesting backstory. As it turns out, it was a bad year for smoke taint in Hemel-in-Aarde so Hamilton Russell seemingly made Pinot Noir from grapes procured from Walker Bay instead, making for an interesting outlier in the portfolio.
Naturally, we picked it up, and it was quite enjoyable even with this caveat!
Dark Fruit and More from Walker Bay
This Walker Bay Pinot Noir was pale ruby in color with medium(+) aromas of black cherry, raspberry, cassis, clove, cedar, leather, blueberry, blackberry, pomegranate, and cola.
On the palate, it was dry with medium acidity, smooth tannin, alcohol, and body plus medium(+) flavor intensity and a long finish. We had more dark fruit notes here like blueberry, blackberry, cola, clove, pomegranate, cassis, black pepper, and dried leaves, and some of the red fruit notes were quite mild.
South Africa Pinot Noir Food Pairing – Pernil Pork
We paired this South African Pinot Noir with a Puerto Rican pernil pork as we thought the rich pork would work nicely with the wine. This one helped a lot more red fruit pop in the wine that we did not notice as much when sipping on its own with flavors like red cherry, raspberry, red currant, and leather coming out along with the meal- a great pairing!
Score: 3 / 5
We'd buy a glass of this one.
Overall, this Walker Bay Pinot Noir from Hamilton Russel was unique given the circumstances of not having a great production in Hemel-en-Aarde. We do not expect this to be the best representation of the lineup in the portfolio. So while we are glad to have tried this one and absolutely would get another glass, we are looking forward to trying one of Hamilton Russel's more traditional Pinot Noirs in the future as well.
Hamilton Russell is located at R320 Hemel-En-Aarde Valley in Hermanus, South Africa. We purchased this bottle locally and enjoyed it in 2025.
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