The Tenor of
Bouchard Finlayson
By PORT2PORT.wine
“I love Paris in the springtime. I love Paris in the fall…” – Peter Finlayson sings. He is the Tenor of Bouchard Finlayson.
Peter Finlayson sings, he is the Tenor of Bouchard Finlayson. He sings in the Overberg Music Group and has a particular fondness for show-tunes, like Les Mis, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dream Coat and Fiddler on the Roof. Soulful. He says he used to sing, but his brothers always told him to shut up. The musical thread seems to run through the Finlayson clan, as his brother Walter’s children and grandchildren have displayed THEIR own musicality in a variety of ways. The Finlaysons have a long history in viticulture. Peter describes his mother as a farmer’s wife, although I wonder if the word “farmer’s wife” isn’t a bit out of place given she farmed with her doctor husband in CONSTANTIA (at the time). Eleanor later became the mistress of Hartenberg, when her husband acquired it in 1948. His father, Dr. Maurice Finlayson, was a pathologist who came to South Africa in the 1930s at the invitation of the government to help with the typhoid outbreaks in the Karoo. The Hartenberg farm was the family farm. His brother Walter eventually developed Blaauwklippen and Glen Carlou, while Peter became the pioneer and first winemaker in Hemel-en-Aarde for Tim Hamilton Russell and later co-owner of Bouchard Finlayson. Their sons, David (Walter’s son) and Peter-Allan and Andrew (Peter’s sons), are part of South Africa’s new generation of winemakers. David is the owner and operator of Edgebaston, now named David Finlayson. Peter-Allan, along with his brother Andrew, owns Crystallum and makes wine in Gabriëlskloof, having married into the family. (Andrew is more of an architect by day.) So when I say WINE FAMILY, I mean THE wine family (or one of them).
An Afrikaans Englishman
Peter is a big man, tall, with a radio voice {I imagine him hosting the Sunday late-night show on RSG (Afrikaans Radio)}, an English gentleman who speaks fluent Afrikaans, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. I think he uses his role as an English gentleman to eavesdrop on Afrikaans Skinder {gossip}. His wife, jeweller Geta, is the reason for his Afrikaans. When he speaks of his Geldenhuys bride, you can tell he HAD to learn Afrikaans to keep up. He played first-team rugby when he studied BSC in Pietermaritzburg. This meant he failed all his subjects and didn't tell them he played rugby when he came to Stellenbosch. He went to Argentina with the Navy, working on the anti-submarine crew, which blew my mind. WHAT were WE doing in Argentina… and submarines… I’ve seen the documentaries. He went to Geisenheim and studied viticulture under Dr. Hans Ambrosi (a big name in wine, if you didn’t know). He worked at the family farm Hartenberg before they sold it to the Gilbeys, then at Boschendal, then under Achim von Arnim, and finally decided to make wine in Hemel-en-Aarde at a time when nobody else was doing it. In 1987, he had to testify before the Klopper Commission for smuggling Chardonnay. He was one of those responsible for getting us the GOOD rootstock, or at least paving the way for South Africa to import it. He said he wasn't allowed to say anything – “I just stood there and evaded questions, like those guys at the Zondo Commission.” He says he made it to the front page of Die Burger {Afrikaans newspaper}, under the headline: “Finlayson se bewyse omhels in ongeloofwaardigheid.”
18 Shareholders
He founded Bouchard Finlayson in the 1990s, a politically difficult time when no one was investing (does that sound familiar?) – but he managed to raise R3 million through 18 shareholders. I don't know if you know, but ONE shareholder is an obligation, five… manageable, 18 MUST have been a nightmare. Peter was forced to be both viticulturist and winemaker and then promptly had a heart attack at 53. After that, he says, “I just walked out, they gave me boom, boom, boom, and I redesigned my life.” The Tollman family of Red Carnation Hotels {there’s actually a CASTLE in Ireland…} eventually bought Bouchard Finlayson in 2000 with 54% of the votes, and Peter has never looked back. He says that Stanley Tollman has stood by him throughout the years and has become one of the most important relationships he has built during his career. The other is Paul Bouchard, THE 'Bouchard' in Bouchard Finlayson, and the first Frenchman to invest in a South African winery. Paul was the foreign judge from Burgundy who came to evaluate the Diners Club Winemaker of the Year. He had offered that whoever received the award would be invited as a guest to his home in Meursault, Burgundy. Peter accepted the award, and his prize was a round trip to Oregon and Burgundy. He charmed Paul over dinner, and six months later Paul flew over to sign. “And he was fantastic.” To get a native Burgundian, knowledgeable about Pinot Noir, to sign up for a small farm in Hemel-en-Aarde in Africa… that's quite an achievement.
An attack on the Romans
Peter is usually known as the 'Pinot Pioneer' – and he is, but above all, he is a PIONEER. The Hannibal is a fascinating blend of Italian and French varietals, including Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Barbera, Pinot Noir, Mourvèdre, and sometimes Shiraz. “An attack on the Romans.” As the name suggests, it is named after the ancient Carthaginian general who won the battle against the Romans in the Second Punic War – and YES, there is much more to that story, and YES, it’s not quite current. Peter says he fell in love with Italian varietals during his honeymoon. Geta and Peter married on February 8, 1975, and boarded an Italian ship called Africa five days later. With his young Geldenhuys bride, they sailed to Venice for three weeks – although on the outward journey, he showed little interest in Italian wines given the price. When they arrived home eight months later on the sister ship Europa, which was on its final voyage as a cruise ship, Peter had developed a fondness for Italian wine. Apparently, the Maître d’ had a whole cellar of wine to get rid of, and Geta and Peter were invited to taste it ALL for little to no cost. “By the time I got to Cape Town, I was hooked on Italian wine. I didn’t want to taste any other SA wine.” Thus, after the Klopper Commission was dissolved, Peter was one of the first to legally import Nebbiolo and Sangiovese in 1989. But consider that EVERYTHING in wine is TIME. Two years in quarantine on the property. THEN propagation to get enough plant material to plant vineyards – which meant they didn't plant the vineyards until 1994. And then they had to wait three years to make wine, and THEN they had to learn how to grow the grapes – only to find out they would be better in a blend. The Hannibal was born in 2001, unique, like the man himself.
Pinot Noir and Sangiovese
Peter believes that Pinot Noir and Sangiovese are not that dissimilar, as they show neither the green grass nor the spiciness of Bordeaux varietals and can easily be confused in a blind tasting. This explains Peter’s fascination with both. Sangiovese, I believe, appeals to his pioneering spirit. And Pinot Noir for his love of Hemel-en-Aarde. Peter is considered the first to grow Pinot Noir in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. “After just a few days of fermentation, I saw the colour and knew we had found something good here.” Peter says that Cabernet can be successfully grown almost anywhere, but Pinot Noir WILL be more specific and that our 120,000-year-old soils make us old world, NOT new world, and demand the kind of SPECIFIC Pinot Noir. It’s interesting in this context that the soils in Burgundy were affected by glaciers 13,000 years ago, which makes our soils older, but not necessarily better. You see, Burgundy is successful for its top wines on limestone soils because they are porous and cannot retain moisture. We are successful on shale soils because they retain moisture to counteract our African sun. Thus, Peter has produced several award-winning wines during his tenure and not only put Pinot Noir on the South African map but also Hemel-en-Aarde as a wine region. Current winemaker Chris Albrecht is following in Peter’s footsteps, and we look forward to him taking over the 25 hectares of vineyards at Bouchard Finlayson in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley.
40 Years
It’s incredible what has been achieved during Peter’s 40-year tenure in Hemel-en-Aarde. It has established itself as a world-class producer of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, has been divided into three appellations, has made valuable advances abroad – and continues to produce fascinating wines from a whole range of producers. Most of them didn't exist 40 years ago. “It’s a rugby game where you are constantly attacked and squeezed. There are no problems, only solutions,” says Peter. When I mention South Africa to him – because let’s be honest, you have to these days – and Peter wonders about the farce of the Zondo Commission during our conversation, he replies like someone who has overcome adversity his whole life: “I have the blessing of this wonderful country.”
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