HAMILTON RUSSELL VINEYARDS: A TIMELINE

Hamilton Russell Vineyards estate in the beautiful Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, Walker Bay district on the Cape South Coast

1975

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

1981 1991

First vintage

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, focusing on Pinotage and Sauvignon Blanc

1996

Creation of separate, adjoining 64ha estate for Ashbourne

2001

First release of Ashbourne Pinotage

2005

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

2006

Hemel-enAarde Valley designated as a Wine of Origin (appellation)

2009

New winery built for Southern Right

2014

Winemaker Hannes Storm leaves and Emul Ross joins Hamilton Russell Vineyards

2017

Ashbourne Pinotage-Cinsault produced from Swartland region

Clockwise from above: view of Ashbourne estate from Braemar House at Hamilton Russell Vineyards; Southern Right cellar; Anthony and Olive Hamilton Russell at Braemar with Great Dane Horrocks; Hamilton Russell cellar (featuring TimÕs hat) rather than overt ripeness. Oak is used in a supporting role, never taking the lead.

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 make a 2019, buying 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 Hemelen-Aarde Ridge and 16% from Hemel-enAarde, this is still a fine wine, but noticeably more fruit-driven and forward than the ‘classic’ estate Pinot Noir. The wine is labelled under ‘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 in 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 greatgreat-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 Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Stylistically closer to Burgundy and Oregon, these are classical, intellectual, longlived wines. But they are also wines designed to be drunk and enjoyed – a view with which most fans will concur.

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