Top 10 South African winemakers to watch

3: Peter-Allan Finlayson, Crystallum

Tall, dark and handsome, Peter-Allan Finlayson’s wine roots run deep. Son of South African Pinot Noir pioneer Peter Finlayson of Bouchard Finlayson, Peter Jr has branched out and set up his own boutique Pinot project, Crystallum, where he makes Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from prime parcels grown on deep clay soils in the Walker Bay.

Part of The Hundred Club, along with the aforementioned Chris Alheit and Donovan Rall of Vuurberg, Finlayson studied philosophy and economics in Stellenbosch before moving back to Hermanus to satiate his passion for wine, founding Crystallum in 2007 with his brother Andrew, having first clocked up numerous harvests in Pinot’s heartland, Burgundy. Fruit is sourced from four vineyard sites in Hemel-en-Aarde. “We nurture what comes off the vines rather than manipulating it to fit a predetermined outcome,” says Finlayson, whose next focus is single vineyard wines.

Both the Chardonnay and Pinot are fermented in French oak and aged for at least a year before bottling at Crystallum’s straw bale winery made from recycled steel, clay and stone. Wine writer Matthew Jukes has described the Pinot as, “a future cult wine in the making.” Finlayson meanwhile, believes it’s “more restrained and elegant” than his father’s concentrated Pinots.