The Pinoneers
The Newton Johnsons have been farming the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley for 25 years.
A family affair, brothers Bevan and Gordon joined their parents to start producing wines from this little slice of heaven on earth in 1997, the very name quite progressive at the time, in honour of their mother’s maiden name and their own. A homage to the influence of both parents, equally. The Newtons, on their mother’s side, from a cattle and maize farm in Natal, and the Johnsons, their father, a fitter and turner at the Cape Town docks, who lived in Seapoint, back when it was still poor man’s land. {I was not aware that it was EVER poor man’s land.} Their father, Dave, was a surfer when there were only about 100 surfers IN the Cape, and the reason this family has such an affinity with the sea. “Stories of him driving down the Garden Route where there were no surfers and surfing certain places for the first time.”
The Elements
I meet Gordon and Bevan one blustery morning in October last year. Us Capetonians are used to the wind, while some days it can howl disconcertedly for days at a time, you can’t let it get to you. The very WIND one of the reasons we’re able to grow grapes so successfully here in South Africa. Though as with all things, a double-edged sword, championed for its cooling effects and vilified for its sheer MIGHT. Bevan, the oldest sibling, handles all the commercial matters of the farm, while younger brother Gordon and his wife Nadia see to the vineyards and winemaking. Both avid surfers and part of the Cape winemaker surfing fraternity, Gordon says he can TELL who it is surfing by observing their form in the water. Surfing and winemaking require the same level of response and ability to adapt to any situation. “For me, it’s my church. I go there not really even to think about anything, but just to take it in. It really opens your mind.” We agree that Gordon should narrate this story, though important to understand that he represents a greater whole, a family, and community.
Diving for Kreef
Gordon and Bevan grew up around people like Neil Ellis, Oom Jan Boland {show me a South African winemaking story that DOESN’T feature this Oom}, and Giles Webb around the dinner table. Their father had become a Cape Wine Master, written a thesis on Pinot Noir, and before the advent of Newton Johnson the FARM, operated a negociant business out of Pringle Bay - learning about and making wine amongst some of the greats. When I ask Gordon WHY this stretch of the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, the geological virtues of the area are quite distinct? Gordon says, to be honest, he thinks his father always just wanted to be ten minutes away from the kreef {crayfish}.
Fault Lines
While Gordon admits they didn’t know much about the terroir when they started, it was quite clear that it was an extraordinary site. With the help of several academics, they were able to decipher the capabilities of the soil, today producing wines with an absolute sense of place. The style, varieties, and blends have evolved AS the Newton Johnsons started understanding their terroir - today reaping the benefits of this experience as evidenced by the quality of the wine. The Hemel-en-Aarde area is a young winemaking region by international standards, the fact that it has proven itself well-suited to the production of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay is by no means conclusive. Producers such as Restless River are excelling at Bordeaux-style varieties, and in Newton Johnson’s case, even Rhône and Northern Spain-inspired grapes like Syrah, Grenache and Albariño. I’ve noticed that people of the Hemel-en-Aarde always talk about the sheer age of the soil and the granitic fault line that it shares with the Swartland, and the peripheries of Stellenbosch, from back when South America was pushing up against Africa, 600 million years ago. Gordon says their unique duplex soils, with the top soil, made up of a mixture of granite and quartz, or sandstone, and the clay that forms the bedrock, made of decomposed granite, sets them apart from neighbouring Hemel-en-Aarde appellations. In fact, when the farmers of the area set about defining the Hemel-en-Aarde appellations {The Valley, Upper, and Ridge}, they never expected there to be THREE, but the soil called it. And in the case of Newton Johnson, it was the granite, or granum {also a wine in their portfolio}, Latin for ‘grain of sand’. I remember Adi Badenhorst’s line on granite: “It sounds so wanky to say - but you can make nice wine from granite soils.” Funny how that granitic fault line ties the Swartland and the Upper Hemel en Aarde together. There's something about granite that makes for a covetable freshness in the wine - possibly a good topic for practical investigation. {Wines available on Port2Port.}
Pinoneers
Though successful in experimenting with other varieties, the Newton Johnsons ARE pioneers in Pinot Noir. While the official fathers of Pinot Noir and actual winemaking in the area remain Tim Hamilton Russell and Oom Peter Finlayson. It by no means detracts from the endeavours of people like the Newton Johnsons and their winning experiments {though the quality and length of production would negate that term} in Pinot Noir as displayed in their two site-specific Pinots. Sea Dragon and Windansea. Gordon says that the Sea Dragon site is 20 years old and was his lightbulb moment. For years, he merely referred to it as boring block six, but one day, a respected French friend said: “I’ve never liked your Pinots before, but this is something different.” Since then: “It’s always just been this ethereal wine, very complex, but has a gravitas to it. Very fine.” The Windansea is set higher up the slope from Sea Dragon, and in its youth could have been described as a bit wild, though as it started getting older, it refined itself beautifully. A realisation that has meant the Newton Johnsons are actively working toward the potential of old vine Pinot Noir. Planting to grow old, and by extension possibly ushering in a new era in South African Pinot Noir. But you know, in wine, these things take TIME - though if the last 25 years are anything to go by, leaps and bounds are to be expected.
Aubert
Gordon says that one of his most meaningful experiences in winemaking has been a tasting chaired by Aubert Villaine of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, hosted by their exclusive importer to South Africa Great Domaines, in their cellar at Newton Johnson. He highlights how humble Aubert is, how hard they work, and how an experience such as this merely pushes you onward. “I think with great wines, wines that really make that impression on you, you don’t concentrate on the academic stuff. It’s an experience.” With a life spent amongst the Ooms of the South African wine industry and very much part of the firmament of team South Africa, Newton Johnson benefits and contributes to the wine fraternity. “I think back to many years ago, when Neil Ellis was tasting the wines and just said, there’s nothing wrong here, just keep doing what you’re doing.” Of South Africa, Gordon says it’s not just about South Africa, but the fact that they’ve come too far now to stop.
“We’ve got a great thing here.” Yes. You do.
