Hamilton Russell Vineyards Pinot Noir Walker Bay 2008

Reduction dominates from the start, smoke, damp earth, tar and dried rose, with a leathery, almost feral edge underneath. The fruit is thin, offering little in the way of ripeness, and the wine sits in a narrow register of herbs, soil and ash rather than opening up. Aeration nudges it in a gamey direction, with scorched rubber notes surfacing and the reductive character stubbornly hanging on. A second bottle confirmed the reading. Disappointing from a producer capable of making Walker Bay's most Burgundian Pinot, this vintage simply didn't deliver.