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The Times, Pendock Uncorked
8 April 2009
My day of meat
Alex showcased two Pinots before our attention was diverted by Belthazar boss Jonathan Steyn and his Gevrey-Chambertin Clos St. Jacques ’96 from Armand Rousseau. The Winery of Good Hope Pinot 2008 is a total mismark at R95. Made from a 60:40 mix of Elgin and Stellenbosch berries, it offers that great Elgin calling card of fruit purity along with some meaty notes.
The Radford Dale Freedom 2008 is the second vintage of WOGH’s flagship Pinot. 100% Elgin fruit from older vines, it bitch-slaps you with huge elegance in a velvet glove and remarkable flavour concentration. A successor to the brilliant 2007 which is now boasting a Burgundian farmyard pong, volumes are up by an order of magnitude, from two to twenty one barrels. And all this for the same price, R220 a bottle.
As far as a comparison between Freedom and the “inspirational” Rousseau goes, reaching for a bulb of beetroot in Mia’s salad, Alex says “give us ten years.”