Pinot Noir Clonal Selection, Kershaw Wines 2021
Tim Atkin MW 94 (2026); James Suckling 93; JancisRobinson.com 91; Decanter World Wine Awards 86 points
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Why this wine
Elgin is the coolest wine region in South Africa, and Richard Kershaw is one of very few Masters of Wine anywhere who makes his own wine. Eleven parcels are vinified clone by clone and soil by soil before blending, which is why this tastes precise rather than simply ripe. Made in tiny quantities.
At a glance
- Grape
- Pinot Noir
- Region
- Elgin, South Africa
- Alcohol
- 13.00%
- Body
- Medium
- Acidity
- High
- Tannins
- Medium
- Sweetness
- Dry
- Drink
- Short (3-5 yrs)
- Pairs with
- Poultry & Pork, Red Meat, Cheese
How it tastes
Black cherry, pomegranate and raspberry lead, with rose petal lifting the aromatics. The palate is succulent and pure rather than heavy, with bright acidity and fine, powdery tannins framing the fruit. Pinot Noir 100%.
The producer
Richard Kershaw MW trained and worked as a chef in Sheffield before discovering wine, settled in South Africa in 1999 and was Group Winemaker at Mulderbosch and Kanu by 2009; he founded Kershaw Wines in 2012 to concentrate on the cool-climate wines of Elgin, and in 2026 Tim Atkin MW classed the estate as a First Growth in his South Africa Report. The fruit comes from eleven tiny parcels across the Elgin Valley, an inland plateau at 300 metres ringed by mountains and just over six miles from the Atlantic, where the French clones PN777, PN667, PN115 and PN113 grow on Bokkeveld Shale and Cartref soils. Hand-picked, hand-sorted and destemmed grapes went into small open-topped fermenters for a three-day maceration and a spontaneous fermentation with wild yeast, spending ten to twelve days on skins before the marc was gently basket pressed; each clone and soil type was vinified as a separate batch, and maturation ran ten to eleven months in French oak, an average of 39.4% of it new, with 82.2% in 228-litre barriques and the rest in 500-litre casks.
Food and drinking
Serve at 14-16°C. It suits roast duck, mushroom risotto, grilled salmon and a wedge of Comté. Drinking well now and over the next three to five years; no decanting needed, though half an hour in the glass helps it open. Sealed with a DIAM cork.