2021 Storm "Ridge" Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge Chardonnay

The story of Storm begins with Hamilton Russell, which if you ask any sommelier, remains one of the best priced Chardonnays on the planet and is the winery to which Storm owes a good piece of their success. Hamilton Russell is the original renegade winery that established a worldwide reputation for Hemel-en-Aarde ("Heaven and Earth") Valley as the home of South Africa's greatest Burgundian wines. Hannes Storm was the head winemaker at Hamilton Russell for many years before beginning this "bijou" winery that owns less than 10 hectares of total land in 2012. 

Hannes Storm makes five wines in total, three Pinot Noirs and two Chardonnays. For the nerds out there he's actually the only producer to make single vineyard expressions of Pinot Noir from all three subregions of Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. There's no commercially valid reason to do something so bold. Hannes Storm lives and breathes for a discussion of terroir. He claims to have no plans to expand. "Small is beautiful," he says. The Pinot Noirs are vivid and beautiful terroir-driven expressions of this cool coastal area of South Africa, but today is about the Chardonnay. This wine gets ignored. I hesitated to get hyperbolic about it in fear that we won't be able to get as much next year, but the cat's out the bag now. We're elated by the 60 bottles of this wine that we receive each vintage, and for the third vintage in a row, it is a stunner. 

The RIDGE bottling from Storm comes from a single vineyard of Chardonnay planted in 2008 on clay-rich Bokkeveld shale in Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge, the highest elevation subregion of the valley. The tension shows from the elevation with a cool vintage Grand Cru Burgundy-inspired  push-pull of acidity, fruit ripess, and salty minerality. The wine has the beautifully subtle and integrated reduction and flintiness that is en vogue in Burgundy at the moment (think PYCM, Comte Lafon, Hubert Lamy), but with a kiss of new world nectarine sunshine. Please enjoy!

94 Points Neal Martin, Vinous: "The 2021 Chardonnay Ridge is located on a vineyard that ripens two to three weeks later the Vrede due to the higher elevation. It is slightly more backward on the nose with scents of dried honey and grilled walnut, the 25% new oak neatly integrated. The palate is well balanced with a touch of orange rind and peach on the entry, very cohesive with a gorgeous, slightly reduced finish that feels long, hints of Conference pear lingering on the aftertaste. Excellent.