Tabula Rasa, Latin for “clean slate”, reflects Oak Valley’s mission to create wines from a blank canvas. These are small-batch, special selections of the very best that they can offer.
‘The concept stems from our imaginary view of Oak Valley as an appellation within the Elgin plateau and our search for new sites that produce exceptional wines,’ says Christopher Rawbone-Viljoen. And so the Tabula Rasa project was born.
The Fynbos Gorge PN114 Pinot Noir 2018 is at the foot of the Groenlandberg, a tiny 0.7 hectares of Bokkeveld shale over clay. It is the most textured of the four Pinots, and super refined and detailed. Chalky and precise and just so on point!
The three 2018 South Ridge Pinot Noirs are from a high-density vineyard on clay-rich Bokkeveld shale soil, which leads to some amazing flavour concentration. The South Ridge PN115 Pinot Noir is aromatic and pure; 115 is generally regarded as a more structure-giving clone.
The South Ridge PN777 is beauty personified – pretty and detailed, a clone that usually offers fleshier fruit and perfume.
Like the 777, the 667 clone proffers dark fruit, and the South Ridge PN667 shows exactly that – juicy black berry seduction.
These Pinots were produced in extremely small volumes, so get some while you can!
Four out of four 95+ ratings for this set of Pinots is a remarkable achievement, and well deserved.
