“It’s been a great journey for us as a family coming into the valley, starting to discover it. We always say that we are learning more and more from the vineyards that we farm. That’s basically the approach we take with our winemaking as well: it’s just to never stop learning.”
Gordon grew up in Stellenbosch (an old boy of Paul Roos Gymnasium) around some of the Cape’s leading edge winemakers as family friends (Dave, his father, is one of the founding Cape Wine Masters) and was immersed in the culture but only followed it closely after university. Having finished an economics degree his more artistic leanings led him to explore wine as a creative medium. Once hooked, he was largely self-taught with sojourns to France, California and New Zealand, before taking over the reins of winemaking at Newton Johnson in the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley in 1999.
Season after season, farming their own vineyards gave Gordon a holistic understanding of the vineyard site and the means to allow his wines to follow a natural path. Hence he makes his wines with a soft hand, rejecting commercial additives, and in a manner that befits each and every vineyard. Newton Johnson’s success with Gordon as winemaker has seen the longest, unbroken run of five stars for a wine (eight years running) in the Platter’s Wine Guide, and Red Wine of the Year in the 2013 edition. Internationally, they have scored 95 points for their Pinots by writers such as Jamie Goode and Tim Atkin in the UK, and 90+ points in Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate in the USA.
100% Chardonnay
The best quality juice fraction is whole bunch pressed directly to barrel without prior settling. The fermentation is spontaneous and no sulphur is used in the winemaking, allowing diverse micro-organisms from the grape itself to flourish unrestrained in the fermentation. Matured for 11 months in barrel (35% new) produced in Burgundy and custom made for this vineyard, with a further 5 months’ élevage in old oak. No fining. Coarse filtration and sulphur adjustment was applied before bottling.
Tasting Notes: Elaborate layers of green and ripe lime fruit juxtaposed with white flowers, baking spice, crushed stones and gunflint. The plush and compact texture is prolonged with vitality in the finish.
Ready for drinking now and for the next 10 years.
Winemaker: Gordon Newton Johnson
100% Pinot Noir
This is a bare-bones glimpse of Windansea, the power dimension to Pinot Noir on our farm. In the stoniest and most clay-rich of our granite soils, the bunches were selectively picked by the family for this small cuvée. Made without sulphur in the winemaking, allowing diverse micro-organisms from the grape itself to flourish unrestrained in the fermentation, enhancing complexity. 11 months’ maturation with a further six months’ élevage in large oak. Unfiltered, it will age over many years in bottle.
Tasting Notes: A lavish wine, saturated with blackberry, liquorice and rich red currants. Lingering impressions of soft spice and freshly turned earth. Bountiful and seamless tannin texture in to a chalky finish.
Ready for drinking in 2 to 15 years’ time.
Winemaker: Gordon Newton Johnson
100% Chardonnay
The best quality juice fraction is whole-bunch pressed directly to barrel without prior settling. The fermentation is spontaneous and no sulphur is used in the winemaking, allowing diverse micro-organisms from the grape itself to flourish unrestrained in the fermentation. Matured for 11 months in barrel (40% new) produced in Burgundy and custom made for this vineyard, with a further 5 months élevage in old oak. No fining, coarse filtration or sulphur adjustment was applied before bottling.
Tasting Notes: Elaborate layers of green and ripe lime fruit juxtaposed with white flowers, baking spice, crushed stones and gunflint. The plush and compact texture is prolonged with vitality in the finish.
Ready for drinking now and for the next 10 years.
This wine is packed in a wooden box.
Winemaker: Gordon Newton Johnson
100% Pinot Noir
Wine of Origin Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley
This is a bare-bones glimpse of Windansea, the power dimension to Pinot Noir on our farm. In the stoniest and most clay-rich of our granite soils, the bunches were selectively picked by the family for this small cuvée. Made without sulphur in the winemaking, allowing diverse micro-organisms from the grape itself to flourish unrestrained in the fermentation, enhancing complexity. 11 months maturation with a further six months élevage in large oak. Unfiltered, it will age over many years in bottle.
Tasting Notes: A lavish vintage, saturated with blackberry, liquorice and rich red currants. Lingering impressions of soft spice and freshly turned earth. Bountiful and seamless tannin texture in to a chalky finish.
40 cases of this wine were previously sold on the 2018 CWG Auction.
Drink in 2020 and for the next 12 years.
Winemaker: Gordon Newton Johnson
Sandford offers a sense of energy and vitality when intertwined with the richness of Chardonnay. Coarse, loose grains of granite and quartz reach down to red, iron-rich clay in the soil that underlines the wine’s structure and grip. Made without sulphur in the winemaking, the whole bunches were pressed directly to barrel for fermentation to nish the following spring. Matured for 11 months, the wine is racked through coarse filtration to older barrels for 6 months élevage before bottling.
Tasting Notes: Beaming yellow fruit and mineral crushed stones drive the vigour in the nose, fleshed out with richer stone fruit and roasted chestnuts. Luxuriant front palate merges in to a linear and grippy finish.
Winemaker: Gordon Newton Johnson
Writhing out of the deep granite formation of ochre-coloured saprolite rocks, each one of these densely planted Mourvèdre bush vines is a sculpted testament to the intensely avoured grapes they produce. Made without sulphur in the winemaking, submerged whole bunches and berries were fermented in closed oak vats with no applied extraction. Matured for 12 months in puncheon barrels, the wine was racked and blended back for a further 3 months élevage. No fining or filtration before bottling.
Tasting Notes: The petrichor smell of rain on hot stones leads to a dense cassis and graphite core, laced with allspice and dried buchu. Chiselled linear tannins are threaded with savoury liquorice in to the finish.
Winemaker: Gordon Newton Johnson
This is a bare-bones glimpse at Windansea, the power dimension to Pinot Noir on our farm. Grown in the stoniest and most clay-rich of our granite soils, the bunches were selectively picked by the family for this small cuvée. Made without sulphur in the winemaking, allowing diverse micro-organisms from the grape itself to flourish unrestrained in the fermentation, enhancing complexity. 11 months maturation, with a further 6 months élevage in large oak. Unfiltered, it will age over many years in bottle.
Winemaker: Gordon Newton Johnson
This is a bare-bones glimpse at Windansea, the power dimension to Pinot Noir on our farm. Grown in the stoniest and most clay-rich of our granite soils, the bunches were selectively picked by the family for this small cuvée. Made without sulphur in the winemaking, allowing diverse micro-organisms from the grape itself to flourish unrestrained in the fermentation, enhancing complexity. 11 months maturation, with a further 6 months élevage in large oak. Unfiltered, it will age over many years in bottle.
Winemaker: Gordon Newton Johnson
This is a bare-bones glimpse at Windansea, the power dimension to Pinot Noir on our farm. Grown in the stoniest and most clay-rich of our granite soils, the bunches were selectively picked by the family for this small cuvée. Made without sulphur in the winemaking, allowing diverse micro-organisms from the grape itself to flourish unrestrained in the fermentation, enhancing complexity. 11 months maturation, with a further six months élevage in large oak. Unfiltered, it will age over many years in bottle.
Winemaker: Gordon Newton Johnson
Seadragon is a parcel sourced out of a one hectare vineyard that is the heartbeat of the Newton Johnson farm. The bunches were selectively picked by the family, along a narrow contour of broken up claystone in the granitic soil. Made without sulphur in the winemaking, it allows diverse and dynamic micro-organisms from the grape itself to flourish unrestrained in the fermentation. 11 months maturation, with a further six months élevage in larger oak. Unfiltered, it will improve over many years in bottle.
Winemaker: Gordon Newton Johnson
This is a bare-bones glimpse at Windansea, the power dimension to Pinot Noir on our farm. In the stoniest and most clay rich of our granite soils, the bunches were selectively picked by the family for this small cuvée. Made without sulphur in the winemaking, it allows diverse and dynamic micro-organisms from the grape itself to flourish unrestrained in the fermentation. 11 months maturation, with a further six months élevage in larger oak. Unfiltered, it will improve over many years in bottle.
Winemaker: Gordon Newton Johnson
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