Nadia Newton Johnson’s maiden release is a culmination of her love affair with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. With decades of experience, and having called Hemel-en-Aarde home since 2006, it was time to express herself.

Winemakers notes:

The Vineyard:
The Artjesvlei vineyard, situated in the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, lies 7 km from the ocean at an elevation of 280 m above sea level. Covering 2.73 hectares, the site faces south with a 12% slope and is planted to Pinot Noir clone PN777 on Richter 110 rootstock at a density of 3 473 vines per hectare, with rows running east-west.
Established in 2008 and now 15 years old (in 2023), the vines are dry-farmed, relying entirely on natural rainfall.
The soils are derived from granite bedrock formed around 580 million years ago, composed primarily of quartz, mica, and feldspar, with a layer of heavier clay between 30 and 60 cm deep. This clay acts as a vital reservoir of moisture and nutrients, sustaining the vines through dry summer periods and contributing to the site’s natural balance and depth of expression.

Winemaking:
Our philosophy is very simple, we gently guide the fruit from vineyard to bottle and try to keep our influence as minimal as possible.
Our grapes are all hand harvested into small crates and brought to the winery to be stored in a cooling room overnight at four degrees centigrade. It is then hand sorted, destemmed and falls by gravity into stainless steel fermenters. No additions are made to the must and fermentation happens spontaneously from ambient yeasts. Gentle extraction is achieved by means of punching down the cap once to twice a day.
After fermentation the wine is drained by gravity and the skins pressed. Elevage in 228L barrels of which 27% are new follows for 10 months. In the following summer, we rack into a single stainless steel vessel by gas displacement and return to barrel for another 4 months before bottling in autumn. The wine then spends another 12-14 months in bottle before release.