2014 Hamilton Russell Vineyards Chardonnay Hemel-en-Aarde Valley 750 ml

A Mulligan in Cape Town

For 14 consecutive vintages, an obscure, small-production South African Chardonnay has wowed Wine Spectator. But the reason we booked that flight from JFK to Oliver Reginald Tambo International had nothing to do with the Spectator. It would be Stephen Tanzer, the stingiest and most respected Burgundy critic in the world, who insisted, over coffee at Le Pain Quotidien on East 77th Street, that we take the 16-hour trip to get a firsthand look at Hamilton Russell.

Never had an airline done such a masterful job of treating customers like cattle. We sat on the tarmac for an hour before takeoff. Each time we nodded off during the 13-hour flight, a stewardess would ram a food trolley into a knee, or run over a stray foot, just to keep us alert. By the time we landed in Johannesburg, we were punch drunk and bruised. Ninety minutes later, when we boarded a small jet for Cape Town, we were cursing Steve Tanzer underneath our breath. Once we got back to the city, we'd get even.

The next day, we got our first look at the spectacular setting of Hamilton Russell Vineyards, the southernmost planting in all of South Africa. By the time night fell, having tasted a half-dozen vintages of what Tanzer and Wine Spectator rate among the top 10 under-$30 Chardonnays in the New World, we were ALMOST ready to give Tanzer a mulligan.

Hamilton Russell Vineyards

In 1975, Tim Hamilton Russell purchased 400 acres of rolling hills a mile and a half from the ocean. Extensive soil research in 1994 helped to identify just over 100 acres of stone-strewn clay soil, set on a base of solid shale. That property was soon planted to a mix of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, each Burgundian clone selected to conform to each of dozens of micro-farmed blocks.

As we tasted through the back vintages behind the old fishing village of Hermanus, the windblown hillsides of Sonoma Coast seemed just around the corner. Daytime summer highs creep into the 80s, but at night the thermometer dips into the 50s, cooled by the brisk maritime breezes that whisk through the valley. The poor shale soils stress vines to the max, providing for small-berry, Montrachet-like clusters of high skin-to-juice ratio.

In very good vintages like 2008 and 2009, Hamilton Russell Chardonnay stands tall against the cream of Sonoma Coast, marrying exotic-fruit intensity with fine New World cut. But in truly great vintages like 2014, the most inaccessible Chardonnay planting in the world gives birth to richly textured, terrifically mineral wines that seem far more at home in Meursault than Cape Town.

Year in and year out South Africa's greatest Chardonnay, the 2014 Hamilton Russell Chardonnay Hemel-en-Aarde is pale gold in color. Complex aromas of pear, tropical fruits, and freshly cut herbs, complicated by saline minerality. Rich and concentrated yet hard-nosed on the attack, filled with a juicy mix of ripe citrus, stone fruits, and nectarine, finishing with great tension and length. Drink now-2022.

92 points from Wine Spectator. $38 on release. $27 this morning on WineAccess. 720 bottles are up for grabs.