2013 has been a wonderful year for Hamilton Russell Vineyards

Photo:  An opportunistic baboon in our nature reserve, resting against a Koos Malgas owl sculpture overlooking Hamilton Russell Vineyards   As the year draws to a close, the Hamilton Russell Vineyards team would like to wish all our customers and consumers a fantastic festive season and all the best for the New Year ahead. We would also like to thank you for your role in making 2013 such a rewarding (and record) year for us.   Two wines in the Wine Spectator Top 100 wines of the year worldwide   Our Chardonnay 2012 came in at number 19 – the first time a South African wine has been in the Top 20. This makes us particularly pleased, for our wine of course, but also for what it suggests on attitudes to top South African wine. Worldwide there is an unusually high level of interest in our country’s top wines which, as people are increasingly aware, offer extraordinary value.   Our Ashbourne Sandstone 2008, came in at number 71, a separate property we own and founded in 1996. Earlier in the year in the first cover story on South Africa in the Wine Spectator, Ashbourne was listed as one of 4 cutting edge South African producers.   We like this list because it is a distillation of more than 17,000 wines from around the world tasted during the year. Wines must show quality, value and excitement and their position on the list is the result of an active debate among the senior editors. In other words, the wines really have to have been noticed – not just lucky.   An unusually high score of 95/100 for our IPW – integrated production of wine   This is a fantastic South African initiative to independently audit the farming practices of the wine industry and rate a producer’s overall sustainable and environmentally friendly farming and production practices.   Members of the Biodiversity in Wine Initiative (we are proud to be one of a short list to have “Championship” status) must also be performing well on the conservation front for a high IPW score.   This is one of our performance indicators that as a Wine Estate – living on and improving our own land – we take very seriously.   Top Achiever and Wine Cellar of the Year – South African Wine Index   This was announced in August last year for 2012, but theoretically applies until the new results are announced this week – i.e. most of 2013. This Index comes close to what we refer to as “the collective wisdom of the market” by deriving a score for each of many South African wines, based on their performance in 44 international and national reviews and competitions. Again luck and individual preference has a little less to do with the results.   The soon to be bottled 2013’s are looking truly excellent – it is a great vintage   The final blend of our 2013 Chardonnay has been made and it will be bottled this week. At 12.96 Alcohol with an acidity of 7.2 g/l and a pH of 3.12, the analysis is exactly where we want it. The wine is very typically Hamilton Russell Vineyards. Tight, complex, long and mineral with lovely pear and citrus perfume.   Our Pinot noir has been moved to tank from the barrel in preparation for bottling. The 7 components from the different separately vinified parcels are each highly individual and will all add character and additional complexity to the final blend, to make our single 33^rd vintage of Hamilton Russell Vineyards Pinot noir – 1/3^rd of a century!  Our 2013 has the rich generosity of palate and perfume of the 2012 with a little more structure and fine-grained tannins.