The Tenor
“I love Paris in the springtime. I love Paris in the fall…” - Peter Finlayson singing.
Peter Finlayson sings. He sings in the Overberg Music Group, with a specific passion for show tunes, think Les Mis, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dream Coat, and Fiddler on the Roof. Soulful. He says he used to sing, but his brothers always told him to shut up until he took up singing lessons. The musical thread seems to run true in the Finlayson clan, with his brother Walter’s children and grandchildren having demonstrated THEIR own musicality in a variety of ways. The Finlaysons have a long history in winemaking. Peter describes his mother as a peasant farmer, though I wonder whether the word ‘peasant’ might be slightly misplaced, given that she was farming in CONSTANTIA (at the time) with a doctor husband. Eleanor later became the lady of Hartenberg when her husband purchased it in 1948. His father, Dr. Maurice Finlayson, was a pathologist who arrived in South Africa by invitation of the government in the 1930s to assist with the typhoid outbreaks in the Karoo. The farm Hartenberg was their family farm. His brother Walter eventually developed Blaauwklippen and Glen Carlou; While Peter became the pioneer/ first winemaker in the Hemel-en-Aarde for Tim Hamilton Russell and later co-owner of Bouchard Finlayson. THEIR sons, David (Walter’s son) and Peter-Allan and Andrew (Peter’s sons), are part of South Africa’s new generation of winemakers. David owns and runs Edgebaston, now named David Finlayson. Peter-Allan co-owns Crystallum with brother Andrew and makes wine at Gabriëlskloof, having married into the family. {Andrew being more of an architect by day.} Thus, when I say, WINE FAMILY…I mean THE wine family {or one of them. I haven’t told you about the De Wets yet.}
An Afrikaans Englishman
Peter is a big man, tall, with a radio voice {I imagine him doing the Sunday late-night show on RSG (Afrikaans radio)}, an English gentleman, who speaks Afrikaans fluently with a mischievous glint in his eye. I think he uses his English gentleman persona to eavesdrop on Afrikaans skinder {gossip}. His jeweller wife, Geta, is the reason for his Afrikaans. When he speaks of his Geldenhuys bride, you can tell he HAD to learn Afrikaans to keep up. He played first-team rugby when he studied BSC in Pietermaritzburg. Which meant he failed all his subjects and didn’t tell them he played rugby when he got to Stellenbosch. He went to Argentina with the navy and worked on the anti-submarine crew, which blew my mind. WHAT business did WE have in Argentina… and SUBMARINES…I’ve watched the documentaries. He went to Geisenheim and studied winemaking under Dr. Hans Ambrosi (a BIG name in wine, if you didn’t know). Worked at their family farm Hartenberg before they sold it to the Gilbeys, then Boschendal, then under Achim von Arnim, AND finally decided to go make wine in the Hemel-en-Aarde, at a time when no one else did. He had to testify during the Klopper Commission in 1987 for smuggling Chardonnay. He was one of THOSE ooms responsible for getting us the GOOD rootstock or at least paved the way for South Africa to IMPORT it. He said he wasn’t allowed to say anything - “I stood there just dodging questions like these guys do on the Zondo commission.” He says he made the front page of Die Burger {Afrikaans newspaper} under the heading: “Finlayson se bewyse omhels in ongeloofwaardigheid.” / “Finlayson’s evidence cloaked in disbelief.”
18 Shareholders
He started Bouchard Finlayson in the 1990s, a difficult time politically, no one was investing (sound familiar?) - but managed to raise R3 million through 18 shareholders. Now, I don’t know if you know, but ONE shareholder is a commitment, five… do-able, 18 HAD to be a nightmare. Peter was forced to be both viticulturist and winemaker and then promptly had a heart attack at 53. After which he says: “I just walked out of there, they gave me boom, boom, boom, and I redesigned my life.” The Tollman family of Red Carnation hotels {there’s an actual CASTLE in Ireland…} finally bought Bouchard Finlayson in 2000 with a 54% vote, and Peter has never looked back. He says Stanley Tollman has stood by him throughout the years and has become one of the meaningful relationships he has formed during his career. The other being Paul Bouchard, THE ‘Bouchard’ in Bouchard Finlayson, and the first French man to invest in a South African winery. Paul was the foreign judge from Burgundy who came to judge the Diners Club winemaker of the year competition. He had offered that whoever took the honours was invited as his guest at their house in Meursault, Burgundy. Peter took the honours and his prize was a round trip to Oregon and Burgundy. He charmed Paul over dinner, and six months later, Paul flew over to sign. “And he was fantastic.” To get a native Burgundian, who KNOWS Pinot Noir, to sign-up to a small farm in the Hemel-en-Aarde, in AFRICA… now, THAT’S a feat.
An Attack on the Romans
Peter is usually known as the ‘Pinot Pioneer’ - and he IS, but he’s also, more importantly, a PIONEER. The Hannibal is an intriguing blend of Italian and French varietals, including Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Barbera, Pinot Noir, Mourvédre, and sometimes, Shiraz. “An attack on the Romans.” As the name suggests, named as it is for the Ancient Carthaginian general who won the battle against the Romans in the Second Punic War - and YES, there’s a lot more to that story, and YES, it’s off-topic. Peter says he fell in love with Italian varietals on his honeymoon. Geta and Peter got married on the 8th of February 1975 and boarded an Italian liner named the Africa five days later. With his young Geldenhuys bride, they sailed to Venice for three weeks - though he didn’t show much interest in Italian wines on the outward journey given the price tag. When they arrived home eight months later on the sister ship, the Europa, on its last voyage as cruise liner - Peter had developed a taste for Italian wine. Apparently, the Maîtr d’ had a whole cellar to get rid of, and Geta and Peter were invited to try it ALL, at little to no cost. “By the time I got to Cape Town, I was hooked on Italian wine. I didn’t want to taste another SA wine.” Thus, after the resolution of the Klopper Commission, Peter was one of the first to legally import Nebbiolo and Sangiovese in 1989. Though do remember that EVERYTHING in wine is TIME. Two years in quarantine on the property. THEN propagating to get enough plant material to plant vineyards - which meant they only planted the vineyards in 1994. And then had to wait for three years to make WINE, and THEN had to learn how to grow the grapes - only to realise they’d be better in a blend. The Hannibal was born in 2001, unique, like the man.
Pinot Noir & Sangiovese
Peter contends that Pinot Noir and Sangiovese are not so dissimilar, given that neither carry any of the green grass or spiciness of Bordeaux varieties and can easily be mistaken in a blind tasting. Which explains Peter’s fascination with both. Sangiovese, I feel, speaking to his pioneering spirit. And Pinot Noir, to his love of the Hemel-en-Aarde. Peter is credited as the first to produce Pinot Noir in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. “Even a couple of days into the fermentation, I looked at the colour, and I knew we were onto something good here.” Peter says you can produce Cabernet successfully almost anywhere, but that Pinot Noir WANTS to be more specific and that our 120 000-year-old soils, make us old world, NOT new world, and the kind of SPECIFIC Pinot Noir craves. Interesting to note here that the soils of Burgundy experienced glacial interference 13000 years ago, making our soils OLDER, but not necessarily better. You see, Burgundy succeeds on limestone soils for its top wines because of its porous nature and the fact that it doesn’t hold moisture. WE succeed on shale soils because it DOES hold moisture, to counteract our African sun. As such, Peter has produced several award-winning wines in his tenure, and not only put Pinot Noir on the South African map, but the Hemel-en-Aarde as wine-producing region too. Current winemaker, Chris Albrecht continues in Peter’s footsteps, and we look forward to HIS take on Bouchard Finlayson's 25ha of vines in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley.
40 Years
It is incredible to think about what has been accomplished in the Hemel-en-Aarde during Peter’s 40-year tenure. It has been established as a world-class producer of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, divided into three appellations, made valuable inroads abroad - and continues to produce intriguing wines by a whole host of producers. Most of whom didn’t exist 40 years ago. “It’s a rugby game, you’re getting tackled and bruised all the time. There’s no such thing as problems, only solutions,” says Peter. When I ask about South Africa because let’s face it, these days you have to - while Peter marvels at the farce of the Zondo commission throughout our interview, he responds like someone who’s overcome adversity all his life: “I’ve got the blessing of this wonderful country.”
