Bouchard Finlayson, Galpin Peak Pinot Noir, 2020
Bouchard Finlayson, Galpin Peak Pinot Noir, 2020
- Red Still
- 75.0cl
- 14.0%
Bouchard Finlayson Galpin Peak Pinot Noir is deftly balanced, rich, and dark with aromas of berries, plums and floral notes. It is expressive on the palate with clearly defined fruit flavours and a full and generous finish. Good for drinking now, but it will cellar well for some years to come.
Grown in the estate's clay-rich soils, this is a stupendous Pinot Noir that in our opinion is superior to most similarly priced Burgundies. Bouchard Finlayson's vineyards are unique in the Cape in that they copy the Burgundian model of planting Pinot Noir in very tightly spaced rows. Such close plantings encourages greater competition between vines, leading to less vigour and consequently brighter wines with more depth and colour.
- ❖ ABV: 14.0%
Grapes
Pinot Noir
Vintage report
Walker Bay in 2020 had a relatively cool, dry growing season — par for the course in this windswept corner of the Western Cape, where the Atlantic keeps things honest. What made 2020 stand out was the absence of the heat extremes that have troubled some neighbouring regions; growers here had time on their side, and the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay that define Hemel-en-Aarde ripened slowly and with real precision. There was drought stress in places, which concentrated flavours without tipping into overripeness, and yields were modest. The result was wines with genuine freshness and structure rather than the blowsy richness that can creep in when the Cape gets too generous with the heat.
Across the board, 2020 produced wines of real definition — the Pinots lean and taut rather than plush, the Chardonnays carrying the kind of mineral tension that makes this valley worth the fuss. We find many are drinking beautifully right now but have the backbone to reward another three to five years in the cellar. The better examples from Hamilton Russell, Bouchard Finlayson, and Storm will hold comfortably until 2027 or beyond. If you've been sitting on bottles, now is a very good moment to start paying attention.
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