GPS Pinot Noir

Learn More About This Wine

Selected from two small parcels of Pinot Noir, made from French clones PN777 and PN115, coming from the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge, Western Cape. 

In 2018, Kershaw discovered two small parcels of Pinot Noir grapes growing on Bokkeveld Shale in the Hemel-en-Aarde valley – an area renowned for Pinot Noir. It made sense to grasp the opportunity and the GPS series is testament to these special places and celebrates them. 

The grapes were handpicked into small lug baskets and manually sorted on a conveyor before the stems were removed. The destemmed berries fell onto a vibrating table in order to remove jacks and substandard berries before dropping uncrushed into small 500kg open-topper fermenters. The grapes underwent a 3-day maceration before spontaneous fermentation began. A gentle delestage program was charted, whereby all the juice ran from the tank daily, to allow any unwanted lees to settle out and for the cap to completely collapse before running the juice back over the crumbled pomace. The grapes remained on skins for 14-15 days before being run off their skins tank with the remaining marc gently basket pressed. The wine settled overnight before being racked by gravity to the barrel. Malolactic proceeded in barrel followed by a light sulphuring after which the finished wine spent around 10-11 months undergoing maturation. During this period each and every barrel was tasted every six weeks and notes and scores logged to better understand the knowledge of clonal, soil and barrel selection. No fining, and the wine was simply racked and lightly filtered prior to bottling. 

A small number of artisanal coopers were selected, all from Burgundy and only French oak was chosen. Importantly, each clone and soil type was micro vinified as separate batches. Overall, the average in 2019 was 21.8% new oak; 76.1% 228 l and 23.9% 500 l. 

Pretty rose petals, red cherries and orange blossoms are emphasised by the brightness of aroma. The ripe, fleshy fruit rounds out the mid-palate and the plush texture gives density to the overall structure of this mid-bodied wine. The juicy acidity with cherry skin and crushed velvet tannins are balanced with a presence and depth of fruit. Flavours include dark cherry, red cherry pie crust, clove spice and wild strawberry. All this is capped by a saline undertone that leads to a tapered finish.