Storm Wines - the best Chardonnay and Pinot Noir

A small miracle in the middle of the coldest valley in South Africa. The terroir here is second to none in Burgundy, the great subsoil, cool summer days and morning mists from nearby Walker Bay make for a totally unique terroir for producing the finest Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. After 12 years working as a winemaker for Hamilton Russel in the Hemel-en-Aarde valley (Afrikaans for "heaven and earth"), Hannes Storm discovered two small parcels of extremely special terroir in the same valley. Both vineyards were planted with Pinot Noir in 2008. The first vintage of Storm saw the light of day in 2012 and after 18 months in bottle, the wines were released in August 2014.

Today, Hannes and Nathalia Storm are a husband and wife team who handcraft their Vrede range of wines from the low-vegetation, stony, clay-rich Bokkeveld ('Buck Veld') shale soil in the Hemel-en-Aarde valley and their Ridge Pinot Noir and Ridge Chardonnay also from the low-vegetation, stony, clay-rich Bokkeveld shale soil on the Hemel-en-Aarde ridge. Storm Wines is the only producer to have Pinot Noir in each of the three appellations in Hemel-en-Aarde. Small production, careful viticulture, minimal intervention in the cellar and a constant leaning towards the old world present wines with distinct personality and character.