2015 Storm Pinot Noir Vrede Hemel-En-Aarde Valley South Africa 750 ml

The Sommelier Stumper: South Africa’s Answer to Burgundy

Some wine regions just have more perfect names than others, and South Africa’s Hemel-en-Aarde may be one of the most apt in the world. Translated from Afrikaans as “Heaven and Earth,” it’s immediately clear that this is no coincidence. As you walk around the vineyards here—stones crunching beneath your feet, and clouds pouring over the mountains above like some kind of mad scientist’s experiment—it’s impossible to shake the idea that this is where all the elements come together.

But it’s more than that, as wines like the 2015 Storm Pinot Noir Vrede make immediately clear in the glass. Because that same tension—not between heaven and earth but, rather, between the more lifted perfume and earthy undertow so typical of the best Pinots—makes itself known in every sip and sniff of this decidedly Burgundian bottling.

Burgundy? South Africa? Yes. Our own VP of Wine Robert Emery put South Africa’s standing into perspective: “When Napoleon was exiled to Elba, it wasn’t just wine from his native France he requested, he also stocked the cellar with wine from South Africa. The vineyards of South Africa have some of the highest quality in the world, and 300 years of winemaking history to back them up.”

Robert was the first on our Wine Team to comment on the Storm, but over the course of our tasting, none of our experts were silent on this exquisite bottle. 

Storm’s crimson red is sourced from the Vrede Vineyard, a clay-and-shale miracle that faces north, the better to catch and hold the warmth of the sun, and that combination of terroir and light reliably lends this particular bottling a notably assertive structure against any riper, darker fruit notes that the vintage helps to impart on it.

In 2015, the combination of the vineyard’s beautifully wild terroir and the weather resulted in a wine that earned across-the-board critical praise for its “fine delineation,” according to Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, which went on to laud its “sappy red cherry and raspberry fruit here; it is saline in the mouth with a pinch of black pepper on the finish that has a touch of more structure and backbone.” Wine Spectator also noted it “has a fleshy edge but stays racy and focused overall, with nice energy throughout.” Read between the lines here and it all sounds awfully Burgundian…which, stylistically, it is. Think riper-vintage Volnay and you’re not too far off.

Vanessa Conlin, our Head of Wine, put Storm to the test. “Last year I put together a blind tasting for professionals and almost everyone thought this was Volnay,” she explained. “We were all stunned, especially when we looked at the price tag—this is my go-to Burgundy alternative.”

The bottle stumped Masters of Wine and writers alike. Food and Wine contributor and Wine Access consultant Jonathan Cristaldi was likewise stumped by Storm: “I pegged it for Burgundy,” he said, “Full of dark berries, earth, brown spices, and terrific structure, this might be the best Pinot Noir from the whole continent of Africa.”

But like the best of South Africa, the 2015 Vrede is very much its own wine. Hannes Storm, who was formerly the head winemaker at renowned Hamilton Russell, has the chops and the confidence to not try to make Burgundy here, but rather something totally unique to this particular land, this world-class vineyard.

“South African Wine has always been a giant,” says VP of Wine Eduardo Dingler of the region. “But it’s been a sleeping giant until recently—Storm is an outstanding example of the region’s unique climate and stellar winemaking.”

Storm leverages the Atlantic-influenced maritime climate, and the stony soils, to help craft something idiosyncratic and unforgettable. He basket-presses the fruit, allowing the native yeast to work its magic. Like the best “Pinot whisperers” around the world, he has the bravery to maintain a light touch and allow the land to speak for itself.

The results with this single-vineyard Pinot absolutely do. And, ironically, so does the name: Vrede means “peace” in Afrikaans, and for all the rough-hewn terroir that this wine springs from, the wild-yeast fermentation, the stoniness of the earth, there is a sense of calm at its core. You might even say peace. Burgundian indeed, yet inextricably tied to this majestic patch of the planet. Whether you take the advice of our wine team or Napoleon, this a wine to snap up before it disappears from the Northern Hemisphere.