Our 2022 Single Vineyard Kroon Pinot Noir is generous and voluptuous with charming velvety tannins. Limited production.
The Kroon Vineyard, with its ferricrete soil, is the highest vineyard on Iona. The wine offers an array of seductive black fruits that include berries, cherries and ripe summer plums. The palate of the 2022 Kroon Pinot Noir is gentle yet generous with pure succulent fruit, bright acidity, charming velvety fine grained tannins resulting in a wine that is nuanced, textured and perfectly balanced with a long savoury finish.
TIM ATKIN MW 2023 SOUTH AFRICA SPECIAL REPORT [ 95/100 ]
“Terroir asserting its influence, this south-facing parcel on clay-underlain alluvial soils (sandstone & ferricrete) produces a slightly darker-hued and more savoury, forthright wine than siblings. Less new oak, 26% vs 31% for 2018. Firm tannin framework, balanced but like all the pinots, deserves time to show full potential.”
PLATTER’S WINE GUIDE [ 4½ stars – 93/100 ]
“A pretty nose of baked strawberries, red cherries, bark, moss and chicory root. Medium-bodied with silky tannins. Bright and floral on the palate with subtle earthy undertones. Nicely layered. A delight. Sustainable. Drink or hold.”
JAMESSUCKLING.COM [ 93/100 ]
“Aromatic, elegant expression of Pinot with some edges. There’s an elegance and harmony to this wine.”
JAMIE GOODE [ 94/100 ]
“Lively and fresh and juicy.”
JANCIS ROBINSON MW [ 17/20 ]
“Some floral fragrance before wild strawberry, white pepper and a hint of earth. The palate shows great fruit purity and energy, the tannins fine and mouthcoating. Real finesse here.”
CHRISTIAN EEDES [ 94/100 ]
“A slightly deeper, darker, bloodier aromatic expression with notes of pomegranate, blood orange, spiced red cherries with a fabulous mineral under vein of wet river stones. Hints of sweet and sour together with intense salinity meet your palate on the entry. This wine displays the same high pedigree polished marble tannins as the Kloof cuvee but with a touch more flesh and savoury, pithy red fruit on the finish. Another very impressive Pinot Noir expression.”
GREG SHERWOOD MW [ 93/100 ]
“Alluvial gravel, sandstone and iron soils. Cloudy ruby colour. Tart black-cherry fruit on the nose. Light body with hard acidic bite that sours the palate. Lean fruit. An exercise in austerity?”
RICHARD HEMMING MW [ 16/20 ]
| ALCOHOL | 13.7% |
| RESIDUAL SUGAR | 2.9 g/l |
| TOTAL ACIDITY | 5.7 g/l |
| PH | 3.5 |
Grapes were hand harvested into small crates and spent overnight in a cold room. Extensive bunch sorting by hand prior to destemming occured. Bunches are destemmed without crushing. Grapes cold soaked for 5-7 days prior to the start of fermentation. Fermentation occurs naturally in open top fermenters. During the fermentation, the skin cap was punched through gently by hand twice a day and fermentation temperature peaked at 28°C. The wines were transferred to 500L and 300L French oak barrels where malolactic fermentation took place (20% new wood, the rest 2nd, 3rd and 4th fill). Maturation in oak was for 12 months, on the lees for the full period. After aging for 12 months in barrel, the wines were racked and blended in stainless steel tank. The wines were clarified naturally for a period of 2 months before bottling.
The 2022 vintage experienced a typical cold Elgin winter, with snow on the high mountain peaks and above average rainfall, which enabled good vine dormancy. Spring was characterised by cold and wet conditions, resulting in later bud break. The cold, wet and windy conditions continued into October and November causing uneven flowering. The uneven flowering resulted in smaller berries that have good concentration of flavours.
From January to April we experienced exceptional weather for the ripening of grapes. The second part of the season was characterised by warm and dry weather conditions and very cold nighttime temperatures, which helped preserve the natural acid of the grapes.
Late season disease was significantly less than previous years, allowing us to pick healthy grapes with wonderful intensity and concentration of flavours. The above average rainfall in winter and spring helped nourish the soils and helped the vine focus on grape ripening rather than vegetative growth, in the warmer conditions. The net result of the later vintage and weather conditions in 2022, is that grapes had high natural acidity, achieved steady phenolic ripeness and plenty of intense and concentrated flavours.
