The Wild Cape West that tamed Pinot Noir

Sometimes, the wish is for it to be forever autumn in the Western Cape of South Africa. Yes, spring is a damn fine time of the year, too, as the bright blue days envelop the earth with a glowing warmth, this so welcome to the soul and the body after a raw, grey Cape winter. But I love the easy season that is autumn, which passes like one long relaxing, satisfying sigh after a hot summer. The days are, currently, still warm to the point of discomfort and the sun’s summery harshness is still evident at mid-day.

But as the days close, the light softens, spreading a broad, deep glow over the Cape, with the air cooling to a pleasing freshness as the sun sets and the brisk air draws aroma from the ocean, descending upon the city with scents of oyster-shell and salt; brine and seaweed.

In this season sandwiched between summer and winter, my wine preferences change along with the days’ atmospheric presentations. Over the past few months, buckets of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc and sparkling wine have been consumed, much of it due to deep-drawing wanton summer thirst. Now here in autumn, my drinking is less frenetic in action, with the need for the offering from the vineyard still being as keen as ever. I will probably drink slightly less, but will be drinking with greater gusto in search of flavours that be seductive, alluring and selfishly satisfying.

This autumn I have noticed empty bottles of Pinot Noir piling-up at the recycling bin, leading me to the logic that this variety is currently being entertained by my vinous desires. Looking at the empties, most are well-known suspects: Newton Johnson, Hamilton Russell, Paul Clüver, Iona… heavens, even a bottle of Two Oceans Pinot Noir 2015 slipped into the realm.

A newish Cape Pinot Noir that found its way into the selection, and due to its tastiness is being reassessed as I here type forth on an autumn Sunday, is the wine from Fryer’s Cove at Doringbaai on the West Coast some 300km north of Cape Town.

It is a good time to be talking about this wine, as that part of the West Coast from whence it originates is particularly splendid during this time of the year. It is God’s Country up there next to the Atlantic Ocean at Doringbaai where Fryer’s Cove winery commands the former crayfish factory that was built in 1925. The ocean roars and broods and spits, sunlight paints the town and the surrounding dune-veld in ever-changing vivid hues, and the local atmosphere is akin to John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row, only here the local parlance being in strikingly colourful Afrikaans, where a kindred admiration for one’s mother – and the mother of others – receives especial attention.

As far as wine is concerned, Fryers’ Cove is especially known for its tremendous Sauvignon Blanc wines made from grapes growing just outside Doringbaai a few hundred metres from the ocean. But with the extreme physical conditions up there, it is no surprise that the frigid soul of the Pinot Noir grape has found a home, resulting in a charming and very delicious red wine.

Grapes for Fryer’s Cove Pinot Noir grow just north from Doringbaai in the region of Lutouw. If this address is confusing, be assured it is just there by the well-known place of Koekenaap. You know, that town just east of Papendorp, mos.

The Pinot Noir is planted some 15kms inland from the Atlantic Ocean, soils being sandy. Rainfall is only 150mm a year and even at the height of summer, midday temperatures are known to barely pass 25°C. Even with irrigation, the growth cycles are prolonged due to the real cool conditions, resulting in small berries with immense fruit concentration.

In its making, Pinot Noir grapes are harvested in the early morning hours and trucked to the Fryer’s Cove winery at Doringbaai, some 35km south from Lutouw. After destemming, the berries are cold-soaked for three days. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks with gentle pump-overs twice daily to extract colour and tannins from the skins, all the time taking care to not disrupt the balance Pinot Noir requires for ensuring elegance and finesse in the resulting wines.

“Pinot Noir is a thin-skinned grape – literally and figuratively,” says Liza Goodwin, Fryer’s Cove winemaker. “As soon as you begin to work harshly in the critical fermentation stage, the equilibrium can falter, resulting in harsh tannins taking over,” she says. “But again, if you go too gentle, the wine becomes thin and diluted. No wonder they call Pinot Noir the heart-break grape – it has a will of its own and requires utmost diligence from the winemaker, each step of the way.”

Once fermented, the wine is matured in 3rd and 4th fill 500L French Oak barrels for eight months before being bottled.

In the mouth, Fryer’s Cove Pinot Noir 2023 cracks, whistles and rips. It is a busy wine, despite Pinot Noir’s reputation for being one of broody elegance. Here, there is fruit, and lots of it, namely sour cherry, mulberry picked green and a run of Ribena. The fruit splatters and moves, crunches, but at the same time a lasso of grippy tannins corral the brightly flavoured medley into a wine of interesting structure.

It explodes in its attack on the mouth with Ukrainian drone-like accuracy, warming on the mid-palate to caress with further layers of fruit, a twang of salt-lick and a just-discernible secondary note of autumnal forest-floor. The latter will be furthered as this delectable Pinot Noir ages, and if it is forever autumn, then it is all right by me.