Cloudfall 2020 from R500, $18.99, £19.99
Gentle Giant 2017 from R650, £19.99, SG$35, €27.80
Archaeologist and environmental scientist Rob Armstrong and his wife Erica bought 23 ha (57 acres) of pine and blue-gum forest in 1999. The property ran up the steep slopes of the Scherpheuwelberg mountain in the Franschhoek Valley of South Africa. The first thing they did was to rip out all the non-native trees and vegetation, replacing them with the three most important flora families of Cape fynbos: ericas (heathers), restios (Cape reeds) and 7,000 protea seedlings. As well as restoring natural biodiversity, their plan was to establish a wine farm – despite knowing nothing about wine. They called their farm Haut Espoir – high hopes indeed.
Eight hectares (20 acres) of vineyards were planted; shed and winery were built. 2004 was their first year of production. But Armstrong was troubled. As time went on, he increasingly struggled to reconcile their message, ‘making wines in harmony with nature’, with the chemical-based viticulture they were practising. ‘We were’, he wrote in his blog in 2020, ‘essentially greenwashing.’ So, in 2010, inspired by local biodynamic pioneer Johan Reyneke, the Armstrongs decided they would transition to biodynamic farming. ‘Initially it hurt a lot’, he wrote. ‘The change was hard. But it was so worth it in the long run. Ten years later, there is abundant biodiversity back on the farm, species I haven’t seen in years are returning.’ They went further. Waste water is recycled through a bioreactor and wetland system; they grow their own (organic) vegetables and fruit and produce their own eggs, all of which are available for the Haut Espoir staff; building materials are from recycled sources; bio waste is used to produce compost; and they run a custom-crush facility to support other wine producers.
In August 2021, Rob Armstrong, the man whom neighbours and friends called The Gentle Giant, died. Very suddenly, too early, leaving behind a wife and two young children. Just months before, on his Instagram account filled with snaps of foraged mushrooms, insects, snakes, flowers, mountains, wine, cheese and his beloved Rhodesian Ridgebacks, he’d posted a picture of Erica and wrote, ‘Happy birthday sweetpea; my queen and rockstar wife, the kindest person. Thank you so much for all you do for me and for this planet, your grace is my guide. I love you Erica and can’t wait for another rotation around the sun with you as my best friend and soulmate!’ He was never to see out that next rotation. Tributes poured in, people speaking again and again of Armstrong’s passion for nature, his kindness, his curiosity and thoughtfulness, his knowledge of the bush, love of life, generosity, desire to share and teach biodynamics with everyone, the way he mentored people. His friend Prakash Patel wrote, ‘May you shine, our Gentle Giant. May you smile on our valley as we try to fill a hole that cannot be filled.’
I didn’t know any of this when I tasted Haut Espoir’s Cloudfall 2020 and Gentle Giant 2017 on a summer day in a crowded tasting room in London this year. All I did know was that these two wines were something special. (I had to edit out numerous exclamation marks from the tasting notes – a sign.) ‘Strikingly unusual’, I wrote of Cloudfall. ‘This is very exciting. Wow.’ And ‘so damn delicious!’ of Gentle Giant. I wanted to take the bottles home with me.
Both these wines are special for many reasons: the wine farm they come from; how they are made; how they taste; but also because they are both wines Armstrong was a part of from planting to bottling. There is a bit of Rob Armstrong’s soul in them.
Cloudfall 2020 was made during the first lockdown. A hot, dry vintage. A time of deep introspection and soul-searching for Armstrong, as evidenced by his blog posts and Instagram. When I wrote the first words of my tasting note, ‘Strikingly unusual’, I didn’t know how unusual it actually is. It’s a blend of 73% Sauvignon Blanc, 17% Shiraz, 6% Chardonnay and 4% Sémillon. Yes, you read right: 17% Shiraz. The grapes were picked over a long period, from February to April, and fermented and aged separately, in stainless steel, for seven months. The Shiraz was vinified as a rosé before being blended with the white wines. The Chardonnay was picked early to give the wine natural acidity and underwent spontaneous fermentation in old oak barrels.
It’s a wine with long, racy, chalk-and-china minerality. It’s like a white mood board; a mosaic of white spice, crunchy white stone fruit, cool white stones, white florals. The Sauvignon Blanc shimmers with tropical and citrus brightness, bringing bold volume. The Sémillon seems to bring the stones, flecked with salt crystals, straight from the seashore. A creamy sail of volume and texture fills the mouth, bringing richness and curve, and then, from somewhere, comes mountain-stream mossiness and scented herbs (tarragon) which linger on the finish. I went back to taste that wine four times during the tasting. It got under my skin in a way I could not explain.
Gentle Giant 2017 is a blend of Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, with Merlot making up the majority of the blend. Each variety was fermented separately, some spontaneously, in open-top fermenters. They were macerated for about a month before being pressed into used French oak barrels and aged for 30 months. The wine is a bit of a conundrum. It is made in such a traditional way, with such traditional (aka bordeaux) grape varieties and it has 14.6% alcohol. On paper it should taste like a warm-climate bordeaux blend. It’s anything but.
Confoundingly Pinot-like in its translucency of tannin and fruit, it has succulently ripe raspberry fruit, shines like satin and sings with perfectly pitched acidity. There is a touch of sweet tobacco leaf (the way tobacco leaves are when they’re cured to copper colour but not yet crackly dry). There’s a fingertip smudge of liquorice. It is so supple, so fresh! The finish seems to fly: fragrant, wide open, glorious. Like standing on a mountain with fynbos and stones tumbling in the view below you.
In his last blog post, dated 22 April 2020, entitled ‘Earth Day and a reflective walk’, Rob Armstrong talks about taking a walk with his son on their farm. ‘James and I talked about how the only constant seems to be change’, he wrote, finishing the post with this:
‘The future is not laid out in stone. Things will change, and our ability to survive as a species will be tested. However, to have the space and the ability to reflect on the past, note what worked, what didn’t work, and use the time to reflect on the past to gain a conscious perspective on what is coming next, is what I am eternally grateful for. As I so often hear, it’s always darkest before the dawn. And this reminds me of words I saw down at our Franschhoek Hugenot memorial, Post tenebras lux. After darkness there is light.’
I never met Rob Armstrong, but his light sure shines through his wines.
Wine-Searcher doesn’t seem to be doing a very effective job of picking up stockists for either wine, but both wines are imported and sold retail by Museum Wines in the UK (both at £19.99). The US importer is Well Crafted Wine & Beverage Co, and founder Travis Vernon sent me a list of retailers selling the wines (see below), although most of them don’t seem to list wines on their websites or do online sales. Cloudfall is sold online by Gladheart (VA) for $18.99, and by Swirl & Sip (VA) for $24.99. Big 5 in Germany sells Gentle Giant online for €27.80. Season's Best in Singapore sells it for SG$35. Schneiders of Capitol Hill were selling it online for $21.99 but you'd need to contact them as their website currently says it's out of stock.
The Caboose – Ashland, VA
Gladheart – Roanoke, VA
Wine Guild of Charlottesville – Charlottesville, VA
Lighthouse Liquors – Baltimore, MD
Cork & Fork – Washington, DC
The Remington Bottle – Baltimore, MD
Outpost – Richmond, VA
Uncork'd – Suffolk, VA
Fredericksburg Food Coop – Fredericksburg, VA
Blacksburg Wine Lab – Blacksburg, VA
Bottle Stop – Occoquan, VA
Swirl & Sip – Fairfax, VA
Wine Bin – Ellicott City, MD
State Line Liquors – Elkton, MD
Off the Rox – Baltimore, MD
Schneiders of DC – Washington, DC
The photos are from Rob Armstrong's Instagram account.
See our 193 tasting notes on wines with the origin Franschhoek.
