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Crystallum
Walker Bay, South Africa6 wines4.0 avg
33
Peter-Allan and Andrew Finlayson's Walker Bay estate - a third-generation winemaking family working Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with cool-climate precision across Hemel-en-Aarde.
Crystallum was founded in 2007 by brothers Peter-Allan and Andrew Finlayson - sons of Peter Finlayson, who founded Bouchard Finlayson and is widely regarded as South Africa's Pinot Noir pioneer. Third-generation winemaking family in Walker Bay. Peter-Allan (background in philosophy and economics) handles the winemaking; Andrew (an architect by training) manages the vineyards.
The estate works exclusively with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay - a decision made after their second vintage. They focus on the cool, maritime Hemel-en-Aarde valley in Walker Bay, working multiple single-vineyard sites including their own Cinema vineyard (planted 2009, high-density, on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge) and sourced fruit from established plots across the valley. Wild yeast fermentation, reduced new oak, and site-specificity carried over from the Bouchard Finlayson school.
The cuvées:
- Peter Max - Pinot Noir, multi-site blend, the entry point and most-produced wine
- Mabalel - Pinot Noir, single vineyard
- Cuvée Cinema - Pinot Noir from their own high-density vineyard, planted 2009 on the Ridge (the site was once used to film Napoleon scenes - hence the name)
- Bona Fide - Pinot Noir, single vineyard
- Whole Bunch - Pinot Noir, as the name suggests
- The Agnes - Chardonnay, flagship white
- Clay Shales - Chardonnay, from a one-hectare block on clay and shale soils
- Ferrum - Chardonnay, from Shaw's Mountain, iron-rich soils
Peter-Allan was named Tim Atkin MW's South African Winemaker of the Year in 2021. The wines are precise, cool-climate, Burgundy-inflected without pretending to be Burgundy - and part of the case for Walker Bay as a serious Pinot and Chardonnay address.
